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I'lBRARY (ft CONGRESS 

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UNITED STATES IeJIwFricA. 



Twelve Select 
SERMONS, 



By d: l. moody. 



"preach the word. 



CHICAGO: 
F. H. Revell, 148 and 150 Madison St. 

Publisher of Evangelical Literature. 
1881. 






The Library 

OF Cong^hss 



WASHINGTON 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by 

F. H. REVELL, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED 

BY 

TMf CHICAGO LEQAL NEWS CO. 



PREFACE 



In compliance with the wish of many friends I 
have consented to the publication of the following 
Addresses. 

I deeply feel how partially and insufficiently the 
Glorious Gospel of the blessed God is represented 
in them, but I lay them at the Master's feet, pray- 
ing, and asking all my Christian friends to pray, 
that they may be the means in their printed form 
of winning more souls to Christ than they have 
been when spoken. 




ADDRESSES BY D. L MOODY. 



"WHERE ART THOU?" 

GENESIS III. 9. 

The very first thing that happened after the news reached 
heaven of the fall of man, was that God came straight down to 
seek out the lost one. As He walks through the garden in the 
cool of the day, you can hear Him calling " Adam ! Adam ! 
Where art thou ? " It was the voice of grace, of mercy, and of 
love. Adam ought to have taken the seeker's place, for he was 
the transgressor. He had fallen, and he ought to have gone up 
and down Eden crying, " My God ! my God ! where art Thou ? " 
But God left heaven to seek through the dark world for the 
rebel who had fallen — not to hurl him from the face of the 
earth, but to plan him an escape from the misery of his sin. And 
he finds him — where ? Hiding from his Creator among the 
bushes of the garden. 

The moment a man is out of communion with God, even the 
professed child of God, he wants to hide away from Him. 
When God left Adam in the garden, he was in communion with 
his Creator, and God talked with him ; but now that he has 
fallen, he has no desire to see his Creator, he has lost com- 
munion with his God. He cannot bpar to see Him, even to 
think of Him, and he runs to hide from God. But to his 
hiding-place his Maker follows him. " Where art thou, Adam ? 
Where art thou ? " 

Six thousand years have passed away, and this text has come 
rolling down the ages. I doubt whether there has been any 



2 " WHERE ART THO U ? " 

one of Adam's sons who has not heard it at some period or 
other of his life — sometimes in the midnight hour stealing over 
him — " Where am I ? Who am I ? Where am .1 going ? and 
what is going to be the end of this ? " I think it is well for a 
man to pause and ask himself that question. I would have you 
ask it, little boy ; and you, little girl ; and you, old man with 
locks turning gray, and eyes growing dim, and natural force 
abating, you who will soon be in another world. I do not ask 
you where you are in the sight of your neighbours ; I do not 
ask you where you are in the sight of your friends ; I do not 
ask you where you are in the sight of the community in which 
you live. It is of very little account where we are in the sight 
of one another, it is of very little account what men think of us ; 
but it is of vast importance what God thinks of us — it is of vast 
importance to know where men are in the sight of God ; and 
that is the question now. Am I in communion with my Creator, 
or out of communion ? If I am out of communion, there is no 
peace, no joy, no happiness. No man on the face of the earth, 
who was out of communion with his Creator, ever knew what 
peace, and joy, and happiness, and true comfort are. He is a 
foreigner to it. But when we are in communion with God, 
there is light all around our path. So ask yourselves this ques- 
tion. Do not think I am preaching to your neighbours, but 
remember I am trying to speak to you, to every one of you as 
if you were alone. It was the first question put to man after 
his fall, and it was a very small audience that God had — Adam 
and his wife. But God was the preacher; and although they 
tried to hide, the words came home to them. Let them come 
home to you now. You may think that your life is hid, that 
God does not know anything about you. But he knows our 
lives a great deal better than we do ; and His eye has been bent 
upon us from our earliest childhood until now. 

" Where art thou ? " I should like to divide my audience 
into three classes — the professed Christians, the Backsliders, 
and the Ungodly. 



" WHERE ART THO U? " 3 

First, I would like to ask the professors this question, or 
rather let God ask it — Where art thou ? What is my position 
in the church, and among my circle of acquaintance ? Do my 
friends know me to be, out and out, on the Lord's side ? You 
may have- been a professing Christian for twenty years, perhaps 
thirty, perhaps forty years. Well, where are you to-night ? Are 
you making progress towards heaven? And can you give a 
reason for the. hope that is within, you ? Suppose I were to 
ask those who were really Christians here to rise, would you be 
ashamed to stand up ? Suppose I should ask every professed 
child of God here, " If you should be cut down by the hand of 
death, have you good reason to believe you would be saved ? " 
Would you be willing to stand up before God and man, and 
say that you have good reason to believe you are passed from 
death unto life ? Or would you be ashamed ? Run your mind 
back over the past years : would it be* consistent for you to say, 
"lama Christian ; " and would your life correspond with your 
profession ? It is not what we say so much as how we live. 
Actions speak louder than words. Do your shopmates know 
that you are a Christian ? Do your family know ? Do they 
know you to be out arrd out on the Lord's side ? Let every 
professed Christian ask, Where am I in the sight of God ? Is 
my heart loyal to the King of heaven ? Is my life here as it 
should be in the community I live in ? Am I a light in this 
dark world ? Christ says, " Ye are My witnesses." Christ was 
the Light of the world, and the world would not have the true 
Light ; the world rose up and put out the Light, and now Christ 
says, " I leave you down here to testify of Me ; I leave you down 
here as My witnesses." That is what the apostle meant when 
he said that Christians are to be living epistles, known and read 
of all men. Then, am I standing up for Jesus as I should in 
this dark world ? If a man is for God, let him say so. If a 
man is for God, let him come out and be on God's side ; and 
if he is for the world, let him be in the world. This serving 
God and the world at the same time — this being on both sides 
at the same time — is just the curse of Christianity at the pres- 



4 " WHERE ART THO U? M 

ent time. It retards the progress of Christianity more than any 
other thing. " If any man will come after Me, let him deny 
himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." 

I have heard of a great many people who think if they are 
united to the church, and have made one profession, that will 
do for all the rest of their days. But there is a cross for every 
one of us daily. Oh, child of God, where are you ? If God 
should appear to you to-night in your bedroom and put the 
question, what would be your answer? Could you say, " Lord, 
I am serving Thee with my whole heart and strength ; I am 
improving my talents and preparing for the kingdom to come ? " 
When I was in England in 1867, there was a merchant who 
came over from Dublin, and was talking with a business man 
in London ; and as I happened to look in, he introduced me 
to the man from Dublin. Alluding to me, the latter said to 
the former, "Is this young man all 00?" Said the London 
man, " What do you mean by O O ? " Replied the Dublin 
man, "Is he Out-and-Out for Christ? " I tell you it burned 
down into my soul. It means a good deal to be O O for Christ ; 
but that is what all Christians ought to be, and their influence 
would be felt on the world very soon, if men who are on the 
Lord's side would come out and take their stand, and lift up 
their voices in season and out of season. As I have said, there 
are a great many in the church who make one profession, and 
that is about all you hear of them ; and when they come to die 
you have to go and hunt up some musty old church records to 
know whether they were Christians or not. God won't do that. 
I have an idea that when Daniel died, all the men in Babylon 
knew whom he served. There was no need for them to hunt 
up old books. His life told his story. What we want is men 
with a little courage to stand up for Christ. When Christianity 
wakes up, and every child that belongs to the Lord is willing 
to speak for Him, is willing to work for Him, and, if need be, 
willing to die for Him, then Christianity will advance, and we 
shall see the work of the Lord prosper. There is one thing 
which I fear more than anything else, and that is the dead cold 



"WHERE ART THOU? < 5 

formalism of the Church of God. Talk about the isms t Put 
them, all together, and I do not fear them so much as dead, 
cold formalism. Talk about the false isms ! There is none so 
dangerous as this dead, cold formalism, which, has come right 
into the heart of the Church. There are so many of us just 
sleeping and slumbering while souls all around are perishing. 
I believe honestly that we professed Christians are all half- 
asleep. Some of us are beginning to rub our eyes and to get 
them half-opened, but as a whole we are asleep. 

There was a little story going the round of the American press 
that made a great impression upon me as a father. A father 
took his little child out into the field one Sabbath, and, it being 
a hot day, he lay down under a beautiful shady tree. The little 
child ran about gathering wild flowers and little blades of grass, 
and coming to its father and saying, " Pretty ! pretty ! ■ At 
last the father fell asleep, and while he was sleeping the little 
child wandered away. When he awoke, his first thought was, 
" Where is my child ? " He looked all around, but he could 
not see him. He shouted at the top of his voice, but all he 
heard was the echo of his own voice. Running to a little hill, 
he looked around and shouted again. No response! Then 
going to a precipice at some distance, he looked down, and 
there upon the rocks and briars, he saw the mangled form of 
his loved child. He rushed to the spot, took up the lifeless 
corpse and hugged it to his bosom, and accused himself of being 
the murderer of his child. While he was sleeping his child had 
wandered over the precipice. I thought as I heard that, what 
a picture of the church of God ! 

How many fathers and mothers, how many Christian men, 
are sleeping now while their children wander over the terrible 
precipice right into the bottomless.pit of hell. Father, where is 
your boy to-night ? It may be just out there in some public- 
house ; it may be reeling through the streets ; it may be pressing 
onwards to a drunkard's grave. Mother, where is your son ? 
Is he in the house of the publican drinking away his soul — every- 
thing that is dear and sacred to him ? Do you know where your 



6 u WHERE ART THOU?" 

boy is ? Father, you have been a professed Christian for forty 
years ; where are your children to-night ? Have you lived so 
godly, and so Christ-like, that you can say, Follow me as I fol- 
lowed Christ? Are those children walking in wisdom; are 
they on their way to glory ; have they been gathered into the 
fold of Christ ; are their names written in the Lamb's Book of 
Life ? How many fathers and mothers to-day would be able 
to answer ? Did you ever stop to think that you were to blame ; 
that you had not been faithful to your children ? Depend upon 
it, as long as the church is living so much like the world, we 
cannot expect our children to be brought into the fold. Come, 

Lord, and wake up every mother, and may every one of us 
who are parents feel the worth of the souls of the children that 
God has given us. May they never bring our grey hairs with 
sorrow to to the grave, but may they become a blessing to the 
church and to the world. Not long ago the only daughter of a 
wealthy friend of mine sickened and died. The father and 
mother stood by her dying bed. He had spent all his time in 
accumulating wealth for her ; she had been introduced into gay 
and fashionable society ; but she had been taught nothing of 
Christ. As she came to the brink of the river of death, she 
said, " Won't you help me ; it is very dark, and the stream is 
bitter cold." They wrung their hands in grief, but could do 
nothing for her ; and. the poor girl died in darkness and despair. 
What was their wealth to them.? And yet, you mothers and 
fathers are doing the same thing in London to-day, by ignoring 
the work God has given you to do. I beseech you, then, each 
one of you, begin to labour now for the souls of your children ! 

A young man, some time ago, lay dying, and his mother 
thought he was a Christian. One day, passing his room door* 
she heard him say, " Lost ! lost ! lost ! " The mother ran into 
the room and cried, " My boy, is it possible you have lost your 
hope in Christ, now you are dying ? " " No, mother, it is not 
that ; I have a hope beyond the grave, but I have lost my life. 

1 have lived twenty-four years, and done nothing for the Son 
of God, and now I am dying. My life has been spent for 



- WHERE ART THOU?" 7 

myself ; I have lived for this world, and now, while I am dying, 
I have given myself to Christ; but my life is lost." Would it 
not be said of many of us, if we should be cut down, that our 
lives have been almost a failure — perhaps entirely a failure as 
far as leading any one else to Christ is concerned ? Young 
lady ! are you working for the Son of God ? Are you trying 
to win some soul to Christ ? Have you tried to get some friend 
or companion to have her name written in the book of life ? Or 
would you say, " Lost, lost ! long years have rolled away since 
I became a child of God, and I have never had the privilege of 
leading one soul to Christ ? " If there is one professed child 
of God who never had the joy of leading even one soul into the 
kingdom of God, oh ! let him begin at once. There is no 
greater privilege on earth. And I believe, my friends, there 
has never been a time, in our day, at least, when work for Christ 
was more needed than at present. I do not believe there ever 
was in your day or mine a time when the Spirit of God was 
more poured out upon the world. There is not a part of Chris- 
tendom where the work is not being carried on ; and it looks 
very much as if the glad tidings were just going to take, as it 
were, a fresh start, and go round the globe. Is it not time that 
the Church of God should wake up and come to the help of the 
Lord as one man, and strive to beat back those dark waves of 
death that roll through our streets, bearing upon their bosom 
the noblest and the best we have ? Oh, may God wake up the 
Church ! And let us trim our lights, and go forth and work for 
the kingdom of His Son. 

Now, Secondly, let me talk a little while to those who have 
gone back into the world — to the Backslider. It may be you 
came to some great city a few years ago a professed Christian. 
You were member of a church once, and a teacher in the Sab- , 
bath-school, perhaps ; but when you came among strangers you 
thought you would just wait a little — perhaps take a class by 
and by. So you gave up teaching in the Sunday-school ; you 
gave up all work for Christ. Then in your new church you did 



8 "WHERE ART THOU?" 

not receive the attention or the warm welcome that you expected, 
and you got into the habit of staying away. You have gone so 
far now, that you are found in the theatre, perhaps, and the 
companion of blasphemers and drunkards. Perhaps I am speak- 
ing now to some one who has been away from his father's house 
for many years. Come, now, backslider, tell me, are you happy? 
Have you had one happy hour since you left Christ? Does the 
world satisfy you, or those husks that you have got in the far 
country ? I have travelled a good deal, but I never found a 
happy backslider in my life. I never knew a man who was 
really born of God that ever could find the world satisfy him 
afterwards. Do you think the Prodigal Son was satisfied in 
that foreign country? Ask the prodigals in this city if they are 
truly happy. You know they are not. " There is no peace, 
saith my God to the wicked." There is no joy for the man in 
rebellion against his Creator. Supposing he has tasted the 
heavenly gift, and been in communion with God, and had sweet 
fellowship with the King of Heaven, and had pleasant hours of 
service for the Master, but has backslidden, is it possible that 
be can be happy ? If he is, it is good evidence he was never 
really converted. If a man has been born again, and has 
received the heavenly nature, this world can never satisfy the 
cravings of his nature. Oh, backslider, I pity you ! But I want 
to tell you that the Lord Jesus pities you a good deal mor than 
any one else can. He knows how bitter your life is ; He knows 
how dark your life is; He wants you to come home. Oh, back- 
slider, come home to-night ! I have a loving message from your 
Father. The Lord wants you, and calls you back to-night, 
" Come home, oh wanderer, this night ; return from the dark 
mountains of sin." Return, and your Father will give you a 
warm welcome. I know that the devil has told you that God 
won't have anything to do with you, because you have wandered 
away. If that is true, there would be very few men in heaven. 
David backslid; Abraham and Jacob turned away from God; 
I do not believe there is a saint in heaven but at some time of 
his life with his heart has backslidden from God. Perhaps not 



" WHERE ART THO U? " 9 

in his life, but in his heart. The prodigal's heart got into the 
far country before his body got there. Backslider ! to-night 
come home. Your Father does not want you to stay away. 
Think you the prodigal's father was not anxious for him to come 
home all those long years he was there ? Every year the father 
was looking and longing for him to return home. So God wants 
you to come home. I do not care how far you have wandered 
away ; the great Shepherd will receive you back into the fold 
to-night. Did you ever hear of a backslider coming home, and 
God not willing to receive him ? I have heard of earthly fathers 
and mothers not being willing to receive back their sons ; but 
I defy any man to say he ever knew a really honest backslider 
want to get home, but God was willing to take him in. 

A number of years ago, before any railway came into Chicago, 
they used to bring in the grain from the Western prairies in 
wagons for hundreds of miles, so as to have it shipped off by 
the Lakes. There was a father who had a large farm out there, 
and who used to preach the gospel as well as attend to his farm. 
One day, when church business engaged him, he sent his son 
to Chicago with grain. He waited and waited for his boy to 
return, but he did not come home. At last he could wait no 
longer, so he saddled his horse and rode to the place where his 
son had sold the grain. He found that he had been there and 
got the money for the grain ; then he began to fear that his boy 
had been murdered and robbed. At last, with the aid of a 
detective, they tracked him to a gambling den, where they found 
that he had gambled away the whole of his money. In hopes 
of winning it back again, he then had sold the team, and lost 
that money too. He had fallen among thieves, and like the 
man who was going to Jericho, they stripped him, and then they 
cared no more about him. What could he do ? He was 
ashamed to go home to meet his father, and he fled. The 
father knew what it all meant. He knew the boy thought he 
would be very angry with him. He was grieved to think that 
his boy should have such feelings towards him. That is just 
exactly like the sinner. He thinks because he has sinned, 



io "WHERE ART THOU?" 

God will have nothing to do with him. But what did that 
father do ? Did he say, " Let the boy go ? " No ; he went 
after him. He arranged his business and started after the 
boy. That man went from town to town, from city to city. 
He would get the ministers to let him preach, and at the close 
he would tell his story. " I have got a boy who is a wanderer 
on the face of the earth somewhere." He would describe 
his boy and say, " If you ever hear of him or see him, will 
you not write to me ? " At last he found that he had gone ta 
California, thousands of miles away. Did that father say, 
" Let him go ? " No ; off he went to the Pacific coast, seeking 
the boy. He went to San Francisco, and advertised in the 
newspapers that he would preach at such a church on such a 
day. When he had preached he told his story, in hopes that 
the boy might have seen the advertisement and come to the 
church. When he had done, away under the gallery there 
was a young man who waited until the audience had gone 
out; then he came towards the pulpit. The father looked, 
and saw it was that boy, and he ran to him, and pressed him 
to his bosom. The boy wanted to confess what he had done, 
but nQt a word would the father hear. He forgave him freely, 
and took him to his home once more. 

Oh, prodigal, you may be wandering on the dark mountains 
of sin, but God wants you to come home. The devil has been 
telling you lies about God ; you think He will not receive you 
back. I tell you, He will welcome you this minute if you 
will come. Say, "I will arise and go to my Father." May 
God incline you to take this step. There is not one whom 
Jesus has not sought far longer than that father. There has 
not been a day since you left Him but he has followed you. 
I do not care what the past has been, or how black your life, 
he will receive you back. Arise then, O backslider, and come 
home once more to your Father's house. 

Not long ago, in Edinburgh, a lady who was an earnest 
Christian worker, found a young woman whose feet had taken 
hold of hell, and who was pressing onwards to a harlot's grave. 



" WHERE ART THOU 2 " 1 1 

The lady begged her to go back to her home, but she said no,, 
her parents would never receive her. This Christian woman 
knew what a mother's heart was ; so she sat down and wrote 
a letter to the mother, telling her how she had met her 
daughter, who was sorry, and wanted to return. The next post 
brought an answer back, and on the envelope was written, 
"Immediately — immediately!" That was a mother's heart. 
They opened the letter. Yes, she was forgiven. They wanted 
her back, and they sent money for her to come immediately. 
Sinner, that is the proclamation, " Come immediately." That is 
what the great and loving God is saying to every wandering 
sinner — i?nmediately. Yes, backslider, come home to-night. 
He will give you a warm welcome, and there will be joy in 
heaven over your return. Come now, for everything is ready. 

A friend of mine said to me some time ago, Did you ever 
notice what the prodigal lost by going into that country ? He 
lost his food. That is what every poor backslider loses. They 
get no manna from heaven. The Bible is a closed book to 
them ; they see no beauty in the Word of God. 

Then the prodigal lost his work. He was a Jew, and they 
made him take care of swine ; that was all loss for a Jew. 
So every backslider loses his work. He cannot do anything 
for God ; he cannot work for eternity. He is a stumbling- 
block to the world. My friend, do not let the world stumble 
over you into hell. 

The prodigal also lost his testimony. Who believed him ? 
I can imagine some of these men came along, natives of 
that country, and they saw this poor prodigal in his rags, bare- 
footed and bare headed. There he stands among the swine r 
and someone says to another, " Look at that poor wretch." 
" What," he says, " do you call me a poor wretch ? My father 
is a wealthy man ; he has got more clothes in his wardrobe 
than you ever saw in your life. My father is a man of great 
wealth and position." Do you suppose these men would 
believe him ? " That poor wretch the son of a wealthy 
man!" Not one of them would believe him. " If he had 



iz "WHERE ART THOU 7" 

got such a wealthy father he would go to him." So with 
the backsliders ; the world does not believe that they are the 
sons of a King. They say, "Why don't they go to Him, if 
there is bread enough and to spare ? Why don't they go 
home ? " 

Then, another thing the prodigal lost was his home. He had 
no home in that foreign country. As long as his money lasted, 
he was quite popular in the public-house and among his ac- 
quaintances ; he had professed friends, but as soon as his money 
was gone, where were his friends ? That is the condition of 
every poor backslider in London. 

But now I can imagine some one saying, " There would be 
little use of me attempting to come back. In a few days I 
should just be where I was again. I should like very much to 
go to my Father's home again, but I'm afraid I wouldn't stay 
there." Well, just picture this scene. The poor prodigal has 
got home, and the father has killed the fatted calf; and there 
they are, sitting at the table eating. I can imagine that was 
about the sweetest morsel he ever got — perhaps the nicest 
dinner he ever had in his life. His father sits opposite ; he is 
full of joy, and his heart is leaping within him. All at once he 
sees his boy weeping. " My son, what are you weeping for ? 
Are you not glad to have got home ? " " Oh, yes, father ; I 
never was so glad as I am to-day : but I am so afraid I will go 
back into that foreign country ! " Why, you cannot imagine 
such a thing ! When you have got one meal in your Father's 
house, you will never be inclined to wander away again. 

Now let me speak to the Third class. " If the righteous 
scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner 
appear ? " Sinner, what is to become of you ? How shall you 
escape ? " Where art thou ? " Is it true that you are living 
without God and without hope in the world ? Did you ever 
stop to think what would become of your soul if you should be 
taken away by a sudden stroke of illness — where you would 
stand in eternity? I read that the sinner is without God, with- 



M WHERE ART THO U ? " 13 

out hope, and without excuse. If you are not saved, what 
excuse will you have to give ? You cannot say that it is God's 
fault. He is only too anxious to save you. I want to tell you 
to-night that you can be saved if you will. If you really want 
to pass from death to life, if you want to become an heir of 
eternal life, if you want to become a child of God, make up 
your mind this night that you will seek the kingdom of God. I 
tell you, upon the authority of this Word, that, if you seek the 
kingdom of God you will find it. No man ever sought Christ 
with a heart to find Him who did not find Him. I never knew 
a man make up his mind to have the question settled, but it was 
settled soon. This last year there has been a solemn feeling 
stealing over me. I am what they call in the middle of life, in 
tire prime of life. I look upon life as a man who has reached 
the top of a hill, and just begins to go down the other side. I 
have got to the top of the hill, if I should live the full term of 
life — threescore years and ten — and am just on the other side. 
I am speaking to many now who are also on the top of the hill r 
and I ask you, if you are not Christians, just to pause a few 
minutes, and ask yourselves where you are. Let us look back on 
the hill that we have been climbing. What do you see ? Yon- 
der is the cradle. It is not far away. How short life is ! It 
all seems but as yesterday. Look along up the hill, and yonder 
is a tombstone ; it marks the resting-place of a loved mother. 
When that mother died, did you not promise God that you 
would serve Him ? Did you not say that your mother's God 
should become your God ? And did you not take her hand in 
the stillness of the dying hour, and say, " Yes, mother, I will 
meet you in heaven ! " And have you kept that promise ? Are 
you trying to keep it ? Ten years have rolled away : fifteen 
years — but are you any nearer God? Did the promise work 
any improvement in you ? No, your heart is getting harder ; 
the night is getting darker; by and by death will be throwing 
its shadows round you. My friend, Where art thou ? Look 
again. A little further up the hill there is another tombstone. 
It marks the resting-place of a little child. It may have been 



14 " WHERE AR T THO U ? " 

a little lovely girl — perhaps her name was Mary ; or it may 
have been a boy — Charley ; and when that child was taken 
from you, did you not promise God, and did you not promise 
the child, that you would meet it in heaven ? Is the promise 
kept ? Think ! Are you still fighting against God ? Are you 
still hardening your heart ? Sermons that would have moved 
you five years ago — do they touch you now ? 

Once more look down the hill. Yonder there is a grave ; you 
cannot tell how many days, or weeks, or years it is away ; you 
are hastening towards that grave. Even should you live the 
life allotted to man, many of you are near the end, you are get- 
ting very feeble, and your locks are turning grey. It may be 
the coffin is already made that this body shall be laid in ; it may 
be that the shroud is already waiting. My friend, is it not tihe 
height of madness to put off salvation so long ? Undoubtedly 
I am speaking to some who will be in eternity a week from now. 
In a large audience like this, during the next week death will 
surely come and snatch some away ; it may be the speaker, or 
it may be some one who is listening. Why put off the question 
another day ? Why say to the Lord Jesus again to-night, " Go 
thy way for this time ; when I have a convenient season, I will 
call for Thee ? " Why not let him come in to-night ? Why 
not open your heart, and say, " King of Glory, come in ? " 

Will there ever be a better opportunity ? Did not you promise 
ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty years ago that you would serve God ? 
Some of you said you would do it when you got married and 
settled down ; some of you said you would serve Him when you 
were your own master. Have you attended to it ? 

You know there are three steps to the lost world ; let me give 
you their names. The first is Neglect. All a man has to do is 
to neglect salvation, and that will take him to the lost world. 
Some people say, " What have I done ! " Why, if you merely 
neglect salvation, you will be lost. I am on a swift river, and 
lying in the bottom of my little boat. Down yonder, ten miles 
below, is the great cataract. Every one that goes over it per- 
ishes. I need not row the boat down ; I have only to pull in 



"WHERE ART THOU?" 15 

the oars, and fold my arms and neglect. So all that a man has 
to do is to fold his arms in the current of life, and he will drift 
onwards and be lost. 

The second step is Refusal. If I met you at the door and 
pressed this question on you, you would say, " Not to-night, 
Mr. Moody, not to-night ; " and if I repeated, " I want you to 
press into the kingdom of God," you would politely refuse : " I 
will not become a Christian to-night, thank you ; I know I 
ought, .but I wont to-night/' 

Then the last step is to Despise it. Some of you have already 
got on the lower round of the ladder. You despise Christ. 
You hate Christ, you hate Christianity ; you hate the best 
people on the earth and the best friends you have got ; and if 
I were to offer you the Bible, you would tear it up and put your 
foot upon it. Oh, despisers ! you will soon be in another world. 
Make haste and repent and turn to God. Now, on which step 
are you, my friend ; neglecting, or refusing, or despising? Bear 
in mind that a great many are taken off from the first step ; 
they die in neglect. And a great many are taken away refus- 
ing. And a great many are on the last step, despising salvation. 

A few years ago they neglected, then they got to refuse; and 
now they despise Christianity and Christ. They hate the sound 
•of the church bell ; they hate the Bible and the Christian ; they 
curse the very ground that we walk on. But one more step 
and they are gone. Oh ye despisers, I set before you life and 
death; which will you choose? WheA Pilate had Christ on 
his hands, he said, " What shall I do with him ? " and the mul- 
titude cried out, "Away with Him ! crucify Him ! " Young men, 
is that your language to-night ? Do you say, "Away with this 
gospel! Away with Christianity! Away with your prayers, 
your sermons, your gospel sounds ! I do not want Christ ? M 
Or will you be wise and say, " Lord Jesus, I want Thee, I need 
Thee, I will have Thee ? " Oh, may God bring you to that 
•decision ! 



"THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE." 

ROMANS III. 22. 



That is one of the hardest truths man has to learn. We are 
apt to think that- we are just a little better than our neighbors, 
and if we find they are a little better than ourselves, we go to 
work and try to pull them down to our level. If you want to 
find out who and what man is, go to the third chapter of 
Romans, and there the whole story is told. " There is none 
righteous, no not one." "All have sinned and come short." 
AIL Some men like to have their lives written before they 
die ; if any of you would like to read your biography, turn 
to this chapter, and you will find it already written. 

I can imagine some one saying, " I wonder if he really pre- 
tends to say that * there is no difference.'" The teetotaller 
says, "Am I no better than the drunkard?" Well, I want to 
say right here, that it is a good deal better to be temperate 
than intemperate ; a good deal better to be honest than dis- 
honest ; it is better for a man to be upright in all his transac- 
tions than to cheat right and left, even in this life. But when 
it comes to the great question of salvation, that does not touch 
the question at all, because " all have sinned and come short 
of the glory of God." Men are all bad by nature ; the old 
Adam-stock is bad, and we cannot bring forth good fruit until 
we are grafted into the one True Vine. If I have an orchard, 
and two apple trees in it, which both bear some bitter apples, 
perfectly worthless, does it make any difference to me that 



" THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE: 1 17 

the one tree has got perhaps five hundred apples, all bad, and 
the other only two, both bad ? There is no difference ; only 
one tree has more fruit than the other. But it is all bad. So 
it is with man. One thinks he has got one or two very little 
sins — God won't notice that; why, that other man has broken 
every one of the ten commandments ! No matter, there is no 
difference ; they are both guilty ; they have both broken the 
law. The law demands complete and perfect fulfilment, and 
if you cannot do that, you are lost, as far as the law is con- 
cerned. " Whosoever shall keep the whole law, aud yet offend in 
one point, he is guilty of all" Suppose you were to hang up a 
man to the roof with a chain of ten links ; if one were to break, 
does it matter that the other nine are all sound and whole ? 
Not the least. One link breaks, and down comes the man. 
But is it not rather hard that he should fall when the other nine 
are perfect, when only one is broken ? Why, of course not ; 
if one is broken, it is just the same to the man as if all had 
been broken ; he falls. So the man who breaks one com- 
mandment is guilty of all. He is a criminal in God's sight. 
Look at yonder prison, with its thousand victims. Some are 
there for murder, some for stealing, some for forgery, some for 
one thing and some for another. You nlay classify them, but 
every man is a criminal. They have all broken the law, and 
they are all paying the penalty. So the law has brought every 
man in a criminal in the sight of God. 

, If a man should advertise that he could take a correct pho- 
tograph of people's hearts, do you believe he would find a cus- 
tomer 1 There is not a man among us whom you could hire to 
have his photograph taken, if you could photograph the real 
man. We go to have our faces taken, and carefully arrange 
our toilet, and if the artist flatters us, we say, " Oh, yes, that's 
a first-rate likeness, as we pass it around among our friends. 
But let the real man be brought out, the photograph of the 
heart, and see if a man will pass that round among his neigh- 
bors. Why, you would not want your own wife to see it! 
You would be frightened even to look at it yourself. Nobody 
2 



18 " THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE:* 

knows what is in that heart but Christ. We are told that " Lie 
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked ; 
who can know it? " We do not know our own hearts ; none 
of us have any idea how bad they are. Some bitter things are 
written against me, but I know a good many more things about 
myself that are bad than any other man. There is nothing 
good in the old Adam nature. We have got a heart in rebel- 
lion against God.by nature, and we do not even love God unless 
we are born of the Spirit. I can understand why men do not 
like this third chapter of Romans — it is too strong for them. 
It speaks the truth too plainly. But just because we do not 
like it, we shall be all the better for having a look it ; very likely 
we shall find that it* is exactly what we want, after all. It's a 
truth that men do not at all like, but I have noticed that the 
medicine we do not like is the medicine that will do us most 
good. If we do not think we are as bad as the description, we 
must just take a closer look at ourselves. Here is a man who 
thinks he is not just so bad as it makes him out to be. He is 
sure he is a little better than his neighbour next door; why, he 
goes to church regularly, and his neighbour never goes to church 
at all ! " Of course," he congratulates himself, " I'll certainly 
get saved easier." But there is no use trying to evade it. God 
has given us the law to measure ourselves by, and by this most 
perfect rule "we have all sinned and come short," and "there 
is no difference." 

Paul brings in the law to show man that he is lost and ruined. 
God, being a perfect God, had to give a perfect law, and the 
law was given not to save men, but to measure them by. I want 
you to understand this clearly, because I believe hundreds and 
thousands stumble there. They try to save themselves by try- 
ing to keep the law : but it was never meant for men to save 
themselves by. The law has never saved a single man since 
the world began. Men have been trying to keep it, but they 
have never succeeded, and never will. Ask Paul what it was 
given for. Here is his answer, " That every mouth might be 
stopped, and the whole world become guilty before God." In 



- THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE: 9 19 

this third chapter of Romans the world has been put on its 
trial, and found guilty. The verdict has been brought in against 
us all — these ministers and elders and church members, just as 
much as the prodigal and the drunkard — " All have sinned 
and come short/' 

The law stops every man's mouth. God will have a man 
humble himself down on his face before Him, with not a word 
to say for himself. Then God will speak to him, when he owns 
that he is a sinner, and gets rid of all his own righteousness. I 
can always tell a man who has got near the kingdom of God : his 
mouth is stopped. If you will allow me the expression, God 
always shuts up a man's lips before he saves Him. Job was not 
saved until he stopped talking about himself. Just see how 
God dealt with him. First of all, He afflicts him, and Job 
begins to talk about his own goodness. " I delivered the poor," 
he says, " and the fatherless, and him who had none to help 
him. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I 
was a father to the poor ! " Why, they would have made Job 
an elder, if there had been elders in those days ! He had been 
a wonderfully good man ! But now God says, " I'll put a few 
questions to you. Gird up now thy loins like a man ; for I will 
demand of thee, and answer thou Me." And Job is down 
directly; he is ashamed of himself; he cannot speak of his 
works any more. " Behold," he cries, " I am vile ; what shall I 
answer Thee ? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth." But 
he is not low enough yet, perhaps, and God puts a few more 
questions. " Ah ! " says Job, " I never understood these things 
before — I never saw it in that light." He is thoroughly hum- 
bled now ; he can't help confessing it. " I have heard of Thee 
by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. 
Wherefore I abhor myself ^ and repent in dust and ashes." Now 
he has found his right position before God, and now God can 
talk to him. And God helps him and raises him up, and gives 
him the double of all that he had before. The clouds, and the 
mist, and the darkness round his path are driven away, and 



20 " THEkE IS NO DIFFERENCE." 

light from eternity bursts into his soul when he sees his nothing- 
ness in the sight of a pure and holy God. 

This, then, is what God gives us the law for — to show us 
ourselves in our»true colours. ,, 

I said to my little family, one morning, a few weeks before 
the Chicago fire, " I am coming home this afternoon to give 
you a ride." My little boy clapped his hands. " Oh, papa, 
will you take me to see the bears in Lincoln Park ? " " Yes." 
You know boys are very fond of seeing bears. I had not been 
gone long when my little boy said, " Mamma, I wish you would 
get me ready." " Oh," she said, " it will be a long time before 
papa comes." " But I want to get ready, mamma." At last 
he was ready to have the ride, face washed, and clothes all nice 
and clean. " Now, you must take good care and not get your- 
self dirty again," said mamma. Oh, of course he was going 
to take care ; he wasn't going to get dirty. So off he ran to 
watch for me. However, it was a long time yet until the after- 
noon, and after a little he began to play. When I got home, I 
found him outside, with his face all covered with dirt. " I can't 
take you to the Park that way, Willie." " Why, papa ?. you said 
you would take me." " Ah, but I can't; you're all over mud. 
I couldn't be seen with such a dirty little boy." "Why, I'se 
clean, papa; mamma washed me." "Well, you've got dirty 
since." But he began to cry, and I could not convince him 
that he was dirty. " I'se clean ; mamma washed me ! " he cried. 
Do you think I argued with him ? No. I just took him up in 
my arms, and carried him into the house, and showed him his 
face in the looking-glass. He had not a word to say. He 
could not take my word for it ; but one look at the glass was 
enough ; he saw it for himself. He didn't say he wasn't dirty 
after that ! 

Now the looking-glass showed him that his face was dirty — 
hit I did not take the looking-glass to wash it j of course not.* 
Yet that is just what thousands of people do. The law is the 
looking-glass to see ourselves in, to show us how vile and worth- 
less we are in the sight of God ; but they take the law, and try 



" THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE." 21 

to wash themselves with it ! Man has been trying that for six 
thousand years, and has miserably failed. By the deeds of the 
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight Only one Man 
ever lived on the earth who could say He had kept the law, 
and that was the Lord Jesus Christ. If he had committed one 
sin, and came short in the smallest degree, his offering Himself 
for us would have been useless. But men have tried to do what 
He did, and have failed. Instead of sheltering under his right- 
eousness, they have offered God their own. And God knew 
what a miserable failure it would be. " There is none that 
doeth righteous, no, not one.'' 

I don't care where you put man, everywhere he has been 
tried he has proved a total failure. He was put in Eden on 
trial ; and some men say they wish they had Adam's chance. 
If you had, you would go down as quickly as he did. You put 
five hundred children into this hall, and give them ten thousand 
toys ; tell them they can run all over the hall, and they can have 
anything they want except one thing, placed, let us say, in one 
of the corners of Mr. Sankey's organ. You go out for a little 
while, and do you think that is not the very first place they will go 
to ? Why, nothing else in the room would have any attraction 
for them but just the thing they were told not to touch. And 
so let us not think Adam was any worse than ourselves. Adam 
was put on trial, and Satan walks into Eden. I do not know 
how long he was there, but I should think he had not been 
there twenty minutes before he stripped Adam of everything 
he had. There he is, fresh from the hands of his Creator ; 
Satan comes upon the scene, and presents a temptation, and 
down he goes. He was a failure, 

' Then God took man into covenant with Him. He said to 
Abraham, " Look yonder at the stars in the heavens and the 
sands on the seashore ; I will make your seed like that. I will 
bless thee and multiply thee upon the earth." But what a 
stupendous failure man was under the covenant. Go back and 
read about it. 

They are brought out of Egypt, see many signs and wonders, 



22 " THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE." 

and stand at last at the foot of Mount Sinai. Then God's holy 
law is given them. Did they not promise to keep it ? " O 
yes," they cry, " we'll keep the law, certainly ! " To hear them 
talk you might think it was going to be all right now. But just 
wait till # Joshua and Moses have turned their backs ! No sooner 
have their leaders gone up the mountain to have an interview 
with God than they begin saying, " Wonder what's become of 
this man Moses ? we don't know where he's got to. Come, 
let us make unto us another God. Aaron ! make us a golden 
calf ; here are the golden ornaments we got from the Egyptians, 
come and make us another God." So when it is made, the 
people raise a great shout, and fall down and worship it. 
" Hark ! listen ; what shout is that I hear ? " says Moses, as he 
comes down the mountain side. " Alas," says Joshua, M there's 
war in the camp, it is the shout of the victor." " Ah, no," says 
Moses, " it isn't the shout of victory or of war, Joshua, it is the 
cry of the idolaters. They have forgotten the God who deliv- 
ered them from the Egyptians, who led them through the Red 
Sea, who fed them with bread from heaven — angel's food. 
They have forgotten their promises to keep the commandments. 
Already the first two of them are broken, ' no other gods,' ' no 
graven image.' They've made them another god — a golden 
god ! " And that's what men have been doing ever since. 

There are more men in the land worshipping the golden 
calf than the God <*f heaven. Look around you. They bring 
before it health, and happiness, and peace. " Give me thirty 
pieces of silver, and I will sell you Christ," is the world's cry 
to-day. "Give me fashion, and I will sell you Christ!" "I 
will sacrifice my wife, my children, my life, my all, for a little 
drink. I will sell my soul for drink !" It is easy to blame these 
men for worshipping the golden calf. But what are we doing 
ourselves ? Ah, man was a failure then, and he has been a 
failure ever since. 

Then God put him under the judges, and wonderful judges 
they were ; but once more, what a failure he was ! After that 
came the prophets, and what a failure he was under them ! 



" THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE." 23 

Then came the Son from heaven himself, right out of the 
bosom of the Father. He left the throne and came down here, 
to teach us how to live. We took Him and murdered Him on 
Calvary ! Man was a failure in Christ's time. 

And now we are living under the dispensation of grace — a 
wonderful dispensation. God is showering down blessings 
from above. But what is man under grace ! A stupendous 
failure. Look at that man reeling on his way to a drunkard's 
grave, and his soul to a drunkard's hell. Look at the wretched 
harlots on your streets. Look at the profligacy, and the 
pauperism and the loathsome sickness. Look at the vice and 
crime that festers everywhere, and tell me is it not true that 
man is a failure under grace ? 

Yes, man is a failure. I can see right down the other side 
of the millennium ; Christ has swayed his sceptre over the 
earth for a thousand years ; but man is a failure still. For 
" when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed 
out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which 
are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather 

them together to battle and they compassed the camp 

of the saints about, and the beloved city ; and the fire came 
down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." What 
man wants is another nature ; he must be born again. What a 
foolish saying, " Experience teaches." Man has been a long 
time at that school, and has never learned his lesson yet — his 
own weakness and inability. He still thinks great things of his 
own strength. " I am going to stand after this," he says, " I 
have hit upon the right plan this time. I am able to keep the 
law now." But the first temptation comes, and he is down. 
Man will not believe in God's strength. Man will not acknowl- 
edge himself a failure, and surrender to Christ to save him 
from his sins. 

But is it not better to find out in this world that we are a 
failure, and to go to Christ for deliverance, than to sleep on 
and go down to hell without knowing we are sinners ? 

I know this doctrine that we have all failed, that we have 



24 " THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE." 

all sinned, and come short, is exceedingly objectionable to the 
natural man. If I had tried to find out the most disagreeable 
verse in the whole Bible, perhaps I could not have fastened 
upon one more universally disliked than " There is no difference" 

I can imagine — and I think I have a right to imagine it — 
Noah, leaving his ark and going off preaching for once in a 
while. As the passers-by stop to listen, there is no sound of 
the hammer or the plane. Noah has stopped work. He has 
gone off on a preaching tour, to warn his countrymen. Per- 
haps he was telling them that there was a great deluge coming 
to sweep away all the workers of iniquity ; perhaps he was 
warning them that every man who was not in the ark must 
perish ; that there would be no difference. I can imagine one 
man saying, " You had better go back and finish your work, 
Noah, rather than come here preaching. You don't think we are 
going to believe in such nonsense as that. You tell us that all 
are going to perish alike ! Do you really expect us to believe that 
the kings and governors, the sheriffs and the princes, the rulers, 
the beggars and thieves and harlots, are all going to be alike 
lost ?" " Yes," says Noah ; " the deluge that is coming by and by 
will take you all away — every man that is not in the ark must die. 
There will be no difference." Doubtless they thought Noah 
had gone raving mad. But did not the flood come and take 
them all away ? Princes and paupers, and knaves and kings — 
was there any difference ? No difference. 

When the destroying angel was about to pass through Egypt, 
no doubt the haughty Egyptian laughed at the poor Israelite 
putting the blood on his door-post and lintel. " What a foolish 
notion," he would say derisively ; " the very idea of sprinkling 
blood on a door-post ! If there were anything coming, that 
would never keep it away I don't believe there is any death 
coming at all ; and if it did, it might touch these poor people, 
but it would certainly never come near, us." But when the 
night came, there was no difference. The king in his palace, 
the captive in his prison, the beggar by the wayside — they 
were all alike. Into every house the king of terrors had come, 



" THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE." 25 

and there was universal mourning in the land. In the home 
of the poor and the lowly, in the home of the prince and the 
noble, in the home of the governor and ruler, the eldest son 
lay dead. Only the poor Israelite escaped who had the blood 
on the door-post and lintel. And when God comes to us in 
judgment, if we are not in Christ, all will be alike. Learned or 
unlearned, high or low, priest or scribe — there will be no 
difference. 

Once more, I can imagine Abraham going down from the 
hills to Sodom. He stands up, let us say, at the corners of the 
streets, before Sodom was destroyed — " Ye men of Sodom, I 
have a message from my God to you." The people stand and 
look at the old man — you can see his white locks as the wind 
sweeps through them — "I have a warning for you," he cries. 
4 God is going to destroy the five cities of the plain, and every 
man who does not escape to yonder mountain must perish. 
When he comes to deal in judgment with you there will be no 
difference ; every man must die. The Lord Mayor, the princes, 
the chief men, the mighty men, the judges, the treasurers — all 
must perish. The thief and the vagabond and the drunkard — 
yes, all must perish alike. There can be ' no difference.' " But 
these Sodomites answer, " You had better go back to your tent 
on the riills, Abraham. We don't believe a word of it. Sodom 
was never so prosperous ; business was never so flourishing as 
now. The sun never shone any brighter than it does to-day. 
The lambs are skipping on the hills, and everything moving on 
as it has done for centuries. Don't preach that stuff to us ; we 
dqn't believe it." A few hours pass, and Sodom is in ashes! 
Did God make any difference among those who would not 
believe ? No, God never utters any opinion ; what He says is 
truth'. "All have sinned and come short," He cries ; " and 
there is no difference " I read of a deluge of fire that is going 
to roll over this earth, and when God comes to deal in judg- 
ment, there will be no difference, and every man who is out of 
Christ must perish. 



26 "THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE." 

It was my sad lot to be in the Chicago fire. As the flames 
rolled down our streets, destroying everything in their onward 
march, I saw the great and the honourable, the learned and the 
wise, fleeing before the fire with the beggar, and the thief, and 
the harlot. All were alike. As the flames swept through the 
city it was like the judgment day. The mayor, nor the mighty 
men, nor wise men could stop these flames. They were all on 
a level then, and many who were worth hundreds of thousands 
were left paupers that night. When the day of judgment comes, 
there will be no difference. When the deluge came there was 
no difference ; Noah's ark was worth more than all the world. 
The day before, it was the world's laughing-stock, and if it had 
been put up to auction, you could not have got anybody to buy 
it except for firewood. But the deluge came, and then it was 
worth more than all the world together. And when the day of 
judgment comes, Christ will be worth more than all this world, 
more than ten thousand worlds. And if it was a terrible thing 
in the days of Noah to die outside the ark, it will be far more 
terrible for us to go down in our sins to a Christless grave. 

Now I hope that you have seen what I have been trying to 
prove — that we are all sinners alike. If I have failed to prove 
that, then the meeting to-night has been a failure. I should 
like to use another illustration or two. I should like to make 
this truth so plain that a child might know it. In the olden 
times in England, we are told, they used to have a game of 
firing arrows through a ring on the top of a pole. The man 
that failed to get all his arrows through the ring was called a 
"sinner." Now I should like for a moment to take up that 
illustration. Suppose our pole to be up in the gallery, and on 
the top of it the ring. I have got ten arrows, let us say, and 
Mr. Sankey has got another ten. I take up the first arrow, 
and take a good aim. Alas ! I miss the mark. Therefore I am 
a " sinner." " But," I say, " I will do the best I can with the 
other nine; I have only missed with one." Like some men 
who try to keep all the commandments but one ! I fire again 
and miss the mark a second time. u Ah, but," I say, " I have 



"THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE." 27 

got eight arrows still," and away goes an other arrow — miss! 
I fire all the ten arrows and do not get one through the ring. 
Well, I was a " sinner " after the first miss, and I can only be 
a " sinner " after the tenth. Now Mr. Sankey comes with his 
ten arrows. He fires and gets his first arrow through. " Do 
you see that ? " he says. "Well," I reply, " go on ; don't boast 
until you get them all through." He takes the second arrow 
and gets that through. '" Ha ! do you see that ? " " Don't 
boast," I repeat, " until all ten are through ; " if a man has not 
broken the law at all then he has got something to boast of ! 
Away goes the third, and it goes through. Then another and 
another all right, and another until nine are through. " Now," 
he says, " one more arrow, and I am not a sinner." He takes 
up the last arrow, and his hand trembles a little ; he just misses 
the mark. And he is a " sinner " as well as I am. My friend, 
have you never missed the mark ? Have you not come short ? 
I should like to see the man who never missed the mark. He 
never lived. 

Let me give you just one more illustration. When Chicago 
was a small town, it was incorporated and made a city. When 
we got our charter for the city, there was one clause in the con- 
stitution that allowed the Mayor to appoint all the police. It 
worked very well when it was a small city; but when it had 
three or four hundred thousand inhabitants, it put too much 
power in the hands of one man. So our leading citizens got a 
new bill passed that took the power out of the hands of the 
Mayor, and put it into the hands of Commissioners appointed 
by Government. There was one clause in the new law that no 
man should be a policeman who was not a certain height — 
5 feet 6 inches, let us say. When the Commissioners got into 
power, they advertised for men as candidates, and in the adver- 
tisement they stated that no man need apply who could not 
bring good credentials to recommend him. I remember going 
past the office one day, and there was a crowd of them waiting 
to get in. They quite blocked up the side of the street ; and 
they were comparing notes as to their chances of success. One 



28 " THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE: 9 

says to another, " I have got a good letter of recommendation 
from the Mayor, and one from the supreme judge." Another 
says, " And I have got a good letter from Senator So-and-so. 
I'm sure to get in." The two men come on together, and lay 
their letters down on the Commissioners' desk. "Well," say 
the officials, " you have certainly a good many letters, but we 
won't read them till we measure you." Ah ! they forgot all 
about that. So the first man is measured, and he is only five 
feet. " No chance for you, sir ; the law says the men must be 
5 feet 6 inches, and you don't come up to the standard." The 
other says, " Well, my chance is a good deal better than his. 
I'm a good bit taller than he is " — he begins to measure him- 
self by the other man. That is what people are always doing, 
measuring themselves by others. Measure yourselves by the 
law of God, or by the Son of God Himself; and if you do that, 
you will find you have come short. He goes up to the officers, 
and they measure him ; he is 5 feet 5 inches and nine-tenths of 
an inch. " No good," they tell him; "you're not up to the 
standard." "But I'm only one-tenth of an inch short," he 
remonstrates. " It's no matter," they say ; "there's no differ- 
ence." He goes with the man who was five feet. One comes 
short six inches, and the other only one-tenth of an inch, but 
the law cannot be changed. And the law of God is that no 
man shall go into the kingdom of heaven with one sin on him. 
He that has broken the least law is guilty of all. 

"Then, is there any hope for me?" you say. "What star is 
there to relieve the midnight darkness and gloom? What is to 
become of me ? If all this is true, I am a poor lost soul. I 
have committed sin from my earliest childhood." Thank God, 
my friends, this is just where the gospel comes in. " He was 
made sin for us who knew no sin." " He was wounded for our 
transgressions ; He was bruised for our iniquities ; the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon Him, and with his stripes we are 
healed." "We all like sheep have gone astray, we have turned 
every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid upon Him 
the iniquity of us all." 



M THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE." 29 

You ask me what my hope is ; it is, that Christ died for my 
sins, in my stead, in my place, and therefore I can enter into 
life eternal. You ask Paul what his hope was. " Christ died 
for our sins according to the Scripture." This is the hope in 
which died all the glorious martyrs of old, in which all who 
have entered heaven's gate have found their only comfort. 
Take that doctrine of substitution out of the Bible, and my 
hope is lost. With the law, without Christ, we are all undone. 
The law we have broken, and it can only hang over our head the 
sharp sword of justice. Even if we could keep it from this 
moment, there remains the unforgiven past. " Without shed- 
ding of blood there is no remission." 

He only is safe for eternity who is sheltered behind the fin- 
ished work of Christ. What the law cannot do for us, He can 
do. He obeyed it to the very letter, and under His obedience 
we can take our stand. For us He has suffered all its penalties, 
and paid all that the law demands. " His own self bare our 
sins in His own body on the tree." He saw the awful end from 
the beginning ; He knew what death, what ruin, what misery 
lay before us if we were left to ourselves. And He came from 
heaven to teach us the new and living way by which " all that 
believe are justified from all things from which they could not 
be justified by the law of Moses." 

There is a well-known story told of Napoleon the First's 
time. In one of the conscriptions, during one of his many wars, 
a man was balloted as a conscript who did not want to go, but 
he had a friend who offered to go in his place. His friend 
joined the regiment in his name, and was sent off to the war. 
By and by a battle came on, in which he was killed, and they 
buried him on the battle-field. Some time after the Emperor 
wanted more men, and by some mistake the first man was bal- 
loted the second time. They went to take him, but he remon- 
strated. "You cannot take me." "Why not! " " I am dead," 
was the reply. "You are not dead; you are alive and well." 
"But I am dead," he said. " Why, man, you must be mad. 
Where did you die ? " "At such a battle, and you left me 



3 o "THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE." 

buried on such a battle-field." "You talk like a mad-man," 
they cried ; but the man stuck to his point that he had been 
dead and buried some months. " You look up your books," he 
said, " and see if it is not so." They looked, and found that he 
was right. They found the man's name entered as drafted, sent 
to the war, and marked off as killed. " Look here," they said, 
u you didn't die ; you must have got some one to go for you ; 
it must have been your substitute" "I know that," he said; 
" he died in my stead. You cannot touch me ; I died in that 
man, and I go free. The law has no claim against me." They 
would not recognize the doctrine of substitution, and the case 
was carried to the Emperor. But he said that the man was 
right, that he was dead and buried in the eyes of the law, and 
that France had no claim against him. 

The story may be true, or it may not, but one thing I know 
to be true, that the Emperor of heaven recognizes the doctrine 
of substitution. Christ died for me ; that is my hope of eternal 
life. " There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ 
Jesus." If you ask me what you must do to share this bless- 
ing, I answer, go and deal personally with Christ about it. 
Take the sinner's place at the foot of the cross. Strip yourself 
of all your own righteousness, and put on Christ's. Wrap your- 
self up in his perfect robe, and receive Him by simple trust as 
your own Saviour. Thus you inherit the priceless treasures 
that Christ hath purchased with his blood. "As many as received 
Hitfiy to them gave He power to become the sons of God." Yes, 
sons of God ; power to overcome the world, the flesh, and the 
devil ; power to crucify every besetting sin, passion, lust ; power 
to shout in triumph over every trouble and temptation of your 
life, " I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth 
me. 

I have been trying to tell you the old, old tale that men are 
sinners. I may be speaking to some one, perhaps, who thinks 
it a waste of time. " God knows I'm a sinner," he cries ; " you 
don't need to prove it. Since I could speak, I've done noth- 
ing but break every law of earth and heaven." Well, my friend, 



"THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE." 31 

I have good news for you. It is just as easy for God to save 
you, who have broken the whole decalogue, as the man who has 
only broken one of the commandments. Both are dead — dead 
in sins. It is no matter how dead you are, or how long you 
have been dead; Christ can bring you to life just the same. 
There is no difference. When Christ met that poor widow 
coming out of Nain, following the body of her darling boy to 
the grave — he was just newly dead — His loving heart could 
not pass her; He stopped the funeral, and bade the dead arise. 
He was obeyed at once, and the mother was clasped once more 
in the living embrace of her son. And when Jesus stood by 
the grave of Lazarus, who had been dead four days, was it not 
just as easy for Him to say, " Lazarus, come forth ? " Was it 
not as easy for Him to bring Lazarus from his tomb, who had 
been dead four days, as the son of the widow, who had been 
dead but one ? Yes, it was just as easy ; there was no differ- 
ence. They were both alike dead, and Christ saved the one 
just as easily, and as willingly, and as lovingly as the other. 
And therefore, my friend, you need not complain that Christ 
cannot save you. Why, Christ died for the ungodly. ■ And if you 
turn to Him at this moment with an honest heart, and receive 
Him simply as your Saviour and your God, I have the authority 
of his Word for telling you that He will in 110 wise cast out. 

And you who have never felt the burden of your sin — you 
who think there is a great deal of difference — you who thank 
God that you are not as other men — beware. God has nothing 
to say to the self-righteous. And unless you humble yourself 
before Him in the dust, and confess before Him your iniquities 
and sins, the gate of heaven, which is open only for sinners, 
saved by grace, must be shut against you for ever. 



GOOD NEWS. 



4 The Gospel/' — i Cor. xv. i. 

I do not think there is a word in the English language so little 
understood as the word " gospel." We hear it every day, and 
we have heard it from our earliest childhood, yet there are 
many people, and even many Christians, who do not really 
know what it means. I believe I was a child of God a long 
time before I really knew. The word " gospel " means " God's 
spell," or ggod spell, or in other words, " good news." The 
gospel is good tidings of great joy. No better news ever came 
out of heaven than the gospel. No better news ever fell upon 
the ears of the family of man thanthe gospel. When the angels 
came down to proclaim the tidings, what did they say to those 
shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem ? " Behold I bring you 
sad tidings ? " No ! " Behold, I bring you bad news ? " No ! 
" Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to 
all people ; for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, 
a Saviour." If those shepherds had been like a good many 
people at the present time, they would have said, " We do not 
believe it is good news. It is all excitement. These angels 
want to get up a revival. These angels are trying to excite us. 
Don't you believe them." That is what Satan is saying now. 
" Don't you believe the gospel is good news ; it will only make 
you miserable." He knows the moment a man believes good 
news, he just receives it. And no one who is under the power 



GOOD NEWS. 33 

of the devil really believes that the gospel is good news. But 
these shepherds believed the message that the angels brought, 
and their hearts were filled with joy. If a boy came with a 
despatch to some one here, could you not tell by the receiver's 
looks what kind of a message it was ? If it brought good 
news you would see it in his face in a moment. If it told him 
that his boy, away in some foreign land, a prodigal son, had 
come to himself, like the one in the 15th of Luke, do you not 
think that father's face would light up with joy ? And if his 
wife were here, he would not wait till they got home, or till 
she asked for it, he would pass it over to her, and her face 
would brighten too, as she shared his joy. But the tidings 
that the gospel brings are more glorious than that. We are 
dead in trespasses and sins, and the gospel offers life. We are 
enemies to God, and the gospel offers reconciliation. The 
world is in darkness, and the gospel offers light. Because man 
will not believe the gospel that Christ is the light of the world, 
the world is dark to-day. But the moment a man believes, 
the light from Calvary crosses his path and he walks in an 
unclouded sun. 

I want to tell you why I like the gospel. It is because it has 
been the very best news I have ever heard. That is just why 
I like to preach it, because it has done me so much good. No 
man can ever tell what it has done for him, but I think I can 
tell what it has undone. It has taken out of my path four of 
the bitterest enemies I ever had. 

There is that terrible enemy mentioned in 1 Cor. xv., the last 
enemy, Death. The gospel has taken it out of the way. My 
mind very often rolls back twenty years ago, before I was con- 
verted, and I think how dark it used to seem, as I thought of 
the future. I well remember how I used to look on death as a 
terrible monster, how he used to throw his dark shadow across 
my path ; how I trembled as I thought of the terrible hour 
when he should come for me ; how I thought I should like to 
die of some lingering disease, such as consumption, so that I 
3 



34 GOOD NEWS. 

might know when he was coming. It was the custom in our 
village to toll from the old church bell the age of any one who 
died. Death never entered that village and tore away one of 
the inhabitants but I counted the tolling of the bell. Some- 
times it was seventy, sometimes eighty ; sometimes it would be 
away down among the teens ; sometimes it would toll out the 
death of some one of my own age. It made a solemn impres- 
sion upon me. I felt a coward then. I thought of the cold 
hand of death feeling for the cords of life. I thought of being 
launched forth to spend my eternity in an unknown land. 

As I looked into the grave, and saw the sexton throw the 
earth on the coffin-lid, " Earth to earth ; ashes to ashes ; dust 
to dust/' it seemed like the death knell to my soul. But that 
is all changed now. The grave has lost its terror. As I go on 
towards heaven I can shout, " O death ! where is thy sting ?" 
and I hear the answer rolling down from Calvary — " buried 
in the bosom of the Son of God." He took the sting right 
out of death for me, and received it into his own bosom. 
Take a hornet and pluck the sting out ; you are not afraid of 
it after that any more than of a fly. So death has lost its 
sting. That last enemy has been overcome, and I can look on 
death as a crushed victim. All that death can get now is this 
old Adam, and I do not care how quickly I get rid of it. I 
shall get a glorified body, a resurrection body, a body much 
better than this. Suppose death should come stealing up into 
this pulpit, and lay his icy hand upon my heart, and it should 
cease to throb, I should rise to the better world to be present 
with the King. The gospel has made an enemy a friend. 
What a glorious thought, that when you die you but sink into 
the arms of Jesus, to be borne to the land of everlasting rest ! 
"To die," the apostle says, "is gain." I can imagine when 
they laid our Lord in Joseph's tomb one might have seen death 
sitting over that sepulchre, saying, " I have Him , He is my 
victim. He said he was the resurrection and the life. Now I 
hold Him in my cold embrace. They thought He was never 
going to die; but see Him now. He has had to pay tribute to 



GOOD NEWS. 35 

me." Never ! The glorious morning comes, the Son of man 
bursts asunder the bands of death, and rises, a Conqueror, 
from the grave. " Because I live," He shouts, M ye shall live 
also." Yes,jj>£ shall live also — is it not good news? Ah, my 
friends, there is no bad news about a gospel which makes it so 
sweet to live, so sweet to die. 

Another terrible enemy that troubled me was Sin. What a 
terrible hour I thought it would be, when my sins from child- 
hood, every secret thought, every evil desire, everything done in 
the dark, should be brought to the light, and spread out before 
an assembled universe ! Thank God, these thoughts are gone. 
The gospel tells me my sins are all put away in Christ. Out of 
love to me He has taken all my sins and cast them behind his 
back. That is a safe place for them. God never turns back ; 
He always marches on. He will never see your sins if they are 
behind his back — that is one of his own illustrations. Satan 
has to get behind God to find them. How far away are they, 
and can they ever come back again! " As far as the east is 
from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from 
us" Not some of them; He takes them all away. You may 
pile up your sins till they rise like a dark mountain, and then 
multiply them by ten thousand for those you cannot think of; 
and after you have tried to enumerate all the sins you have 
ever committed, just let me bring one verse in, and that moun- 
tain will melt away : " The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, 
cleanseth us from all sin." In Ireland, some time ago, a teacher 
asked a little boy if there was anything God could not do ; and 
the little fellow said, " Yes ; He cannot see my sins through the 
blood of Christ." That is just what He cannot do. The blood 
covers them. Is it not good news that you can get rid of sin ? 
You come to Christ a sinner, and if you receive His gospel your 
sins are taken away. You are invited to do this ; nay, He 
entreats you to do it. You are invited to make an exchange ; 
to get rid of all your sins, and to take Christ and his righteous- 
ness in the place of them. Is not that good news ? 



36 GOOD NEWS. 

There is another enemy which used to trouble me a great 
deal — Judgment. I used to look forward to the terrible day 
when I should be summoned before God. I could not tell 
whether I should hear the voice of Christ saying. " Depart from 
Me, ye cursed," or whether it would be, " Enter thou into the 
joy of thy Lord." And I thought that till he stood before the 
great white throne no man could tell whether he was to be on 
the right hand or the left. But the gospel tells me that is 
already settled : " There is now no condemnation to them 
which are in Christ Jesus." " Verily, verily" — and when you 
see that word in Scripture, you may know there is something 
very important coming — "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he 
that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath 
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is 
passed from death unto life." Well, now, I am not coming 
into judgment for sin. It is no open question. God's word 
has settled it. Christ was judged for me, and died in 
my stead, and I go free. He that believeth hath — h-a-t-h, 
hath. Is not that good news ? A man prayed for me the 
other day that I might obtain eternal life at last. I could 
not have said Amen to that. If he meant it in this sense, I 
obtained eternal life nineteen years ago, when I was converted. 
What is the gift of God, if it is not eternal life ? And what 
makes the gospel such good news ? Is it not that it offers eter- 
nal life to every poor sinner who will take it ? If an angel came 
straight from the throne of God, and proclaimed that God had 
sent him here to offer us any one thing we might ask — that 
each one should have his own petition granted — what would 
be your cry ? There would be but one response, and the cry 
would make heaven ring: " Eternal life ! eternal life ! " Every- 
thing else would float away into nothingness. It is life men 
want, men value most. Let a man worth a million dollars be 
on a wrecked vessel, and if he could just save his life for six 
months by giving that million, he would give it in an instant. 
But the gospel is not a six months' gift. " The gift of God i? 
eternal life.'" And is it not one of the greatest marvels that 



GOOD NEWS. 37 

men have to stand and plead, and pray and beseech their fellow- 
men to take this precious gift of God ? 

My friends, there is one spot on earth where the fear of Death, 
of Sin, and of Judgment, need never trouble us, the only safe 
spot on earth where the sinner can stand — Calvary. Out in 
our western country, in the autumn, when men go hunting, and 
there has not been any rain for months, sometimes the prairie 
grass catches fire. Sometimes, when the wind is strong, the 
flames may be seen rolling along, twenty feet high, destroying 
man and beast in their onward rush. When the frontiersmen 
see what is coming, what do they do to escape ? They know 
they cannot run as fast as the fire can run. Not the fleetest 
horse can escape it. They just take a match and light the grass 
around them. The flames sweep onwards ; they take their stand 
in the burnt district, and are safe. They hear the flames roar 
as they come along ; they see death bearing down upon them 
with resistless fury, but they do not fear. They do not even 
tremble as the ocean of flame surges around them, for over the 
place where they stand the fire has already passed, and there is 
no danger. There is nothing for the fire to burn. And there is 
one spot on earth that God has swept over. Eighteen hundred 
years ago the storm burst on Calvary, and the Son of God took 
it into his own bosom, and now, if we take our stand by the 
Cross, we are safe for time and for eternity. 

Sinner, would you be safe to-night ? Would you be free 
from the condemnation of the sins that are past, from the power 
of the temptations that are to come ? Then take your stand 
on the Rock of Ages. Let death, let the grave, let the judg- 
ment come, the victory is Christ's and yours through Him. Oh, 
will you not receive this gospel to-night — this wonderful mes- 
sage of his sacrifice for you ? 

i Some people, when the gospel is preached, put on a long face, 
as if they had to attend a funeral or witness an execution, or 
hear some dry, stupid lecture or sermon. It was my privilege 
to go into Richmond with General Grant's army. I had not 
been long there before it was announced that the negroes were 



38 GOOD NEWS. 

going to have a jubilee meeting. These coloured people were 
just coming into liberty ; their chains were falling off, and they 
were just awakening to the fact that they were free. I thought 
it would be 'a great event, and I went down to the African 
Church, one of the largest in the South, and found it crowded. 
One of the coloured chaplains of a northern regiment had 
offered to speak. I have heard many eloquent men in Europe 
and in America, but I do not think I ever heard eloquence such 
as I heard that day. He said, " Mothers ! you rejoice to-day ; 
you are for ever free ! That little child has been torn from 
your embrace, and sold off to some distant state for the last 
time. Your hearts are never to be broken again in that way ; 
you are free." The women clapped their hands and shouted at 
the top of their voices. "Glory, glory to God." It was good 
news to them, and they believed it. It filled them full of joy. 
Then he turned to the young men, and said, " Young men ! 
you rejoice to-day; you have heard the crack of the slave- 
driver's whip for the last time ; your posterity shall be free ; 
young men rejoice to-day, you are for ever free ! " And they 
clapped their hands, and shouted, " Glory to God ! " They 
believed the good tidings. ■" Young maidens ! " he said, " you 
rejoice to-day. You have been put on the auction-block and 
sold for the last time; you are free — for ever free ! " They 
believed it, and lifting up their voices, shouted, " Glory be to 
God ! " I never was in such a meeting. They believed that it 
was good news to them. 

My friends, I bring you better tidings than that. No coloured 
man or woman ever had such a mean, wicked, cruel master as 
those that are serving Satan. Do I speak to a man who is a slave 
to strong drink ? Christ can give you strength to hurl the cup 
from you, and make you a sober man, a loving husband, a kind 
father. Yes, poor wife of the drunkard, He gives you good news ; 
your husband may become a sober man again. And you, poor 
sinner, you who have been so rebellious and wayward, the gospel 
brings a message of forgiveness to you. God wants you to be re- 
conciled to Him. "Be ye reconciled unto God." It is his message 



GOOD NEWS. 39 

to you — a message of friendship. Here is a little story of recon- 
ciliation which I was told lately ; perhaps it may help you a little : 

There was an Englishman who had an only son ; and only 
sons are often petted, and humoured, and ruined. This boy 
became very headstrong, and very often he and his father had 
trouble. One day they had a quarrel, and the father was very 
angry, and so was the son ; and the father said he wished the 
boy would leave home and neVer come back. The boy said he 
would go, and would not come into his father's house again till 
he sent for him. The father said he would never send for 
him. Well, away went the boy. But when a father gives up a 
boy, a mother does not. You mothers will understand that, 
but the fathers may not. You know there is no love on earth 
so strong as a mother's love. A great many things may separate 
a man and his wife ; a great many things may separate a father 
from a son ; but there is nothing in the wide world that can 
ever separate a true mother from her child. To be sure, there 
are some mothers that have drunk so much liquor, that they 
have drunk up all their affection. But I am talking about a 
true mother ; and she would never cast off her boy. 

Well, the mother began to write, and plead with the boy to 
write to his father first, and he would forgive him ; but the boy 
said, "I will never go home till father asks me." Then she 
pled with the father, but the father said, " No, I will never ask 
him." At last the mother came down to her sick-bed, broken- 
hearted, and when she was given up by the physicians to die, 
the husband, anxious to gratify her last wish, wanted to know 
if there was nothing he could do for her before she died. The 
mother gave him a look ; he well knew what it meant. Then 
she said, " Yes, there is one thing you can do. You can send 
for my boy. That is the only wish on earth you can gratify. 
If you do not pity him and love him when I am dead and gone, 
who will ? " " Well," said the father, " I will send word to him 
that you want to see him." " No," she says, "you know he 
will not come for me. If ever I see him you must send for 
him. At last the father went to his office and wrote a despatch 



4 o GOOD NEWS. 

in his own name, asking the boy to come home. As soon as 
he got the invitation from his father he started off to see his 
dying mother. When he opened the door to go in he found 
his mother dying, and his father by the bedside. The father 
heard the door open, and saw the boy, but instead of going to 
meet him he went to another part of the room, and refused to 
speak to him. His mother seized his hand — how she had 
longed to press it ! She kissed hifn, and then said, " Now, my 
son, just speak to your father. You speak first, and it will all 
be over." But the boy said, " No, mother, I will not speak to 
him until he speaks to me." She took her husband's hand in 
one hand and the boy's in the other, and spent her dying 
moments in trying to bring about a reconciliation. Then just 
as she was expiring — she could not speak — so she put the 
hand of the wayward boy into the hand of the father, and 
passed away ! The boy looked at the mother, and the father 
at the wife, and at last the father's heart broke, and he opened 
his arms, and took that boy to his bosom, and by that body 
they were reconciled. Sinner, that is only a faint type, a poor 
illustration, because God is not angry with you. I bring you 
to-night to the dead body of Christ. I ask you to look at the 
wounds in his hands and feet, and the wound in his side. And 
I ask you, "Will you not be reconciled? " When he left 
heaven, He went down into the manger that He might get hold 
of the vilest sinner, and put the hand of the wayward prodi- 
gal into that of the Father, and He died that you and I might 
be reconciled. If you take my advice you will not sleep 
to-night until you are reconciled. "Be ye reconciled." Oh, 
this gospel of reconciliation ! My friends, is it not a glad 
gospel ? 

And then it is a free gospel ; any one may have it. You 
need not ask, "For whom is this good news." It is for your- 
self. If you would like Christ's own word for it, come with me 
to that scene in Jerusalem where the disciples are bidding Him 
farewell. Calvary with all its horrors is behind Him ; Gethsem- 



GOOD NEWS, 41 

ane is over, and Pilate's judgment hall. He has passed the 
grave, and is about to take his place at the right hand of the 
Father. Around Him stands his little band of disciples, the 
little church He was to leave behind Him to be his witnesses. 
The hour of parting has come, and He has some " last words " 
for them. Is he thinking about himself in these closing moments ? 
Is He thinking about the throne that is waiting Him, and the 
Father's smile that will welcome Him to heaven ? Is He 
going over in memory the scenes of the past ; or is He think- 
ing of the friends who have followed Him so far, who will miss 
Him so much when He is gone ? No, He is thinking about 
you. You imagined He would think of those who loved Him ? 
No, sinner, He thought of you then. He thought of His ene- 
mies, those who shunned Him, those who despised Him, those 
who killed Him — He thought what more He could do for 
them. He thought of those who would hate Him, of those 
who would have none of his gospel, of those who would say it 
was too good to be true, of those who would make excuse that 
He never died for them. And then turning to his disciples, his 
heart just bursting with compassion, He gives them his fare- 
well charge, " Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel 
to every creature." They are almost his last words, " to 
every creature." 

I can imagine Peter saying, " Lord, do you really mean that 
we shall preach the gospel to every creature? " "Yes, Peter." 
"Shall we go back to Jerusalem and preach the gospel to those 
Jerusalem sinners who murdered you ? " "Yes, Peter, go 
back and tarry there until you are endued with power from on 
high. Offer the gospel to them first . Go search out that man 
who spat in my face ; tell him I forgive him ; there is nothing 
in my heart but love for him. Go, search out the man who put 
that cruel crown of thorns on my brow'; tell him I will have a 
crown ready for him in my kingdom, if he will accept salvation ; 
there shall not be a thorn in it, and he shall wear it for ever 
and ever in the kingdom of his Redeemer. Find out that man 
who took the reed from my hand, and smote my head, driving 
6 



42 GOOD NEWS. 

the thorns deeper into my brow. If he will accept salvation as 
a gift, I will give him a sceptre, and he shall sway it over the 
nations of the earth. Yes, I will give him to sit with Me upon 
my throne. Go, seek that man who struck Me with the palm 
of his hand ; find him and preach the gospel to him ; tell him 
that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin, and my 
blood was shed for him freely. ,, Yes, I can imagine Him say- 
ing, " Go, seek out that poor soldier who drove the spear into 
my side ; tell 6 him tjiat there is a nearer way to my heart than 
that. Tell him that I forgive him freely ; and tell him I will 
make him a soldier of the cross, and my banner over him shall 
be love." 

I thank God that the gospel is to be preached to every creat- 
ure. I thank God the commission is so free. There is no man 
so far gone, but the grace of God can reach him ; no man so 
desperate or so black, but He can forgive him. Yes, I thank 
God I can preach the gospel to the man or the woman who is 
as black as hell itself. I thank God for the " whosoevers " of 
the invitations of Christ. " God so loved the world that He 
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life," and " Whosoever 
wi7l,~let him take the water of life freely." 

I heard of a woman once who thought there was no promise 
in the Bible for her, they were all for other people. One day 
she got a letter, and when she opened it, found it was not for 
her at all, but for some other woman of the same name. It led 
her to ask herself, " If I should find some promise in the Bible 
directed to me, how should I know that it meant me, and not 
some other woman? " And she found out that she must just 
take God at his word, and include herself among the " whoso- 
evers " and the " every creatures " to whom the gospel is freely 
preached. I know that word " whosoever " means every man, 
every woman, every child in this wide world. It means that 
boy down there, that grey-haired man, that maiden in the blush 
of youth, that young man breaking a mother's heart, that drunk- 
ard steeped in misery and sin. Oh, my friends, will you nort 



GOOD NEWS. 



43 



believe this good news ? Will you not receive this wonderful 
gospel of Christ ? Will you not believe, poor sinner, that it 
means you? Will you say it is too good to be true? 

I was in Ohio a few years ago, and was invited to preach in 
the State prison. Eleven hundred convicts were brought into 
the chapel, and all sat in front of me. After I had got through 
the preaching, the chaplain said to me : " Mr. Moody, I want 
to tell you of a scene which occurred in this room. A few years 
ago, our commissioners went to the governor of the State, and 
got him to promise that he would pardon five men for good 
behaviour. The governor consented, with this understanding — 
that the record was to be kept secret, and that at the end of six 
months the five men highest on the roll should receive a pardon, 
regardless of who or what they were. At the end of six months 
the prisoners were all brought into the chapel ; the commission- 
ers came up, and the President stood up on the platform, and 
putting his hand in his pocket, brought out some papers, and 
said, 'I hold in my hand pardons for five men.' " The chap- 
lain told me he never witnessed anything on earth like it. 
Every man was as still as death ; many were deadly pale, and 
the suspense was awful ; it seemed as if every heart had ceased 
to beat. The commissioner went on to tell them how they had 
got the pardon ; but the chaplain interrupted him. " Before 
you make your speech, read out the names. This suspense is 
awful." -So he read out the first name, " Reuben Johnson will 
come and get his pardon ; " and he held it out, but none came 
forward. He said to the governor, "Are all the prisoners here ? " 
The governor told him they were all there. Then he said again, 
" Reuben Johnson will come and get his pardon. It is signed 
and sealed by the governor. He is a free man." Not one 
moved. The chaplain told me he looked right down where 
Reuben was ; he was well known ; he had been nineteen years 
there, and many were looking round to see him spring to his 
feet. But he himself was looking round to see the fortunate 
man who had got his pardon. Finally the chaplain caught his 
eye and said, "Reuben, you are the man." Reuben turned 



44 GOOD NEWS. 

round and looked behind him to see where Reuben was. The 
chaplain said the second time, " Reuben, you are the man ; " 
and the second time he looked round, thinking it must be some 
other Reuben. So men do not believe the gospel is for them. 
They think it is too good, and pass it over their shoulders to 
the next man. But you are the man to-night. Well, the chap- 
lain could see where Reuben was, and he had to say three 
times, " Reuben, come and get your pardon." At last the 
truth began to steal over the old man ; he got up and came 
' along down the hall, trembling from head to foot, and when he 
got the pardon he looked at it, and went back to his seat, and 
buried his face in his hands, and wept. When the prisoners 
got into the ranks to go back to the cells, Reuben got into the 
ranks too, and the chaplain had to call to him, " Reuben, get 
out of the ranks ; you are a free man, you are no longer a pris- 
oner." And Reuben stepped out of the ranks. He was free! 
That is the way men make out pardons. They make them out 
for good character or good behaviour. But God makes out 
pardons for men who have not got any character, who have been 
very, very bad. He offers a pardon to every sinner on earth 
if he will take it. I do not care who he is or what he is like. 
He may be the greatest libertine that ever walked the streets, 
or the greatest blackguard who ever lived, or the greatest 
drunkard, or thief, or vagabond ; but I come to-night with glad 
tidings, and preach the gospel to every creature. 



CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 

"The Son of Man is come to seek and to save thai 
which was lost." luke xix. 10. 



To me this is one of the sweetest verses in the whole Bible. In 
this one little short sentence we are told what Christ came into 
this world for. He came for a purpose ; He came to do a 
work, and in this little verse the whole story is told. He came 
not to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, 
might be saved. 

A few years ago, the Prince of Wales came to America, and 
there was great excitement about this Crown Prince coming 
to our country. The papers took it up, and began to discuss 
it, and a great many were wondering what he came for. Was 
it to look into the republican government? Was it for his 
health ? Was it to see our institutions ? or for this, or for that ? 
He came, and went, but he never told us what he came for. 
But when the Prince of Heaven came down into this world, He 
told us what He came for. God sent Him, and He came to do 
the will of His Father. What was that ? " To seek and to save 
that which was lost." And you cannot find any place in Scrip- 
ture where a man was ever sent by God to do a work in which 
he failed. God sent Moses to Egypt to bring three millions of 
bondsmen up out of the house of bondage into the promised 
land. Did he fail ? It looked, at first, as if he were going to. 
If we had been in the Court when Pharaoh said to Moses, 
" Who is God, that I should obey Him ? " and ordered him out 
of his presence, we might have thought it meant failure. But 
did it ? God sent Elijah to stand before Ahab, and it was a 



46 CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 

bold thing when he told him there should be neither dew nor 
rain ; but didn't he lock up the heavens for three years and six 
months ? Now here is God sending his own beloved Son from 
his bosom, from the throne, down into this world. Do you 
think He is going to fail ? Thanks be to God, He can save to 
the uttermost, and there is not a man in this city who may not 
find it'so, if he is willing to be saved. 

I find a great blessing to myself in taking up a passage like 
this, and looking all around it, to see what brought it out. If 
you loQk back to the close of the eighteenth chapter, you will 
find Christ coming near the city of Jericho. And, sitting by the 
wayside, was a poor, blind beggar. Perhaps he has been there 
for years, led out, it may be, by one of his childre n, or perhaps 
as we sometimes see, he had got a dog to lead him out. There 
he had sat for years, and his cry had been, " Please give a poor, 
blind man a farthing." One day, as he was sitting there, a man 
came down from Jerusalem, and seeing the poor, blind man, 
took his seat by his side, and said, " Bartimeus, I have good 
news for you." " What is it ? " said the blind beggar. " There 
is a man in Israel who is able to give you sight." "Oh, no," 
said the blind beggar, " there is no chance of my ever receiving 
sight. I was born blind, and nobody born blind ever got sight. 
I shall never see in this world ; I may in the world to come, 
but I must go through this world blind." "But," said the man, 
" let me tell you, I was at Jerusalem the other day, and the 
great Galilean prophet was there, and I saw a man who was 
born blind that had received his sight ; and I never saw a man 
with better sight. He does not need to use glasses ; he can see 
quite clear." Then for the first time, hope rises in the poor 
man's heart, and he asks " How was it done? " "Why, Jesus 
spat on the ground and made some clay, and anointed his 
eyes," (why, that is enough to put a man's sight out, even if he 
can see!) "and sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam, and 
while he was doing so, he got two good eyes. Yes, it is so. I 
talked with him, and I didn't see a man in all Jerusalem who 
had better sight." "What did he charge?" says Bartimeus. 



CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 47 

11 Nothing. There was no fee or doctor's bill ; he got his sight 
for nothing. You just tell Him what you want ; you don't need 
to have an influential committee to call on Him, or any import- 
ant deputation. The poor have as much influence with Him 
as the rich; all are alike. ,, "What is his name? " asks Barti- 
meus. " Jesus of Nazareth. And if He ever comes this way, 
don't you let Him by, without getting your case laid before 
Him." And the blind man says " That you may be sure of; 
He shall never pass this way without my seeking Him." 

A day or two after, he is led out, and takes his seat at the 
usual place, still crying out for money. All at once he hears 
the footsteps of a coming multitude, and begins to cry, " Who 
is it ? " " Tell me, who is it ? " Some one said that it was Jesus 
of Nazareth that was passing by. The moment he hears that, 
he says to himself, " Why, that is the man who gives sight to the 
blind," and he lifted up his cry, " Jesus, thou Son of David, have 
mercy upon me ! " I don't know who it was — perhaps it was 
Peter — who said to the man, " Hush ! keep still." He thought 
the Lord was going up to Jerusalem to be crowned King, and 
He would not like to be disturbed by a poor blind beggar. Oh 
they did not know the Son of God when He was here ! He 
would hush every harp in heaven to hear a sinner pray ; no 
music delights Him so much. But Bartimeus lifted up his voice 
louder, " Thou Son of David, have mercy on me." His prayer 
reached the ear of the Son of God, as prayer always will, and 
His footsteps were arrested. He told them to bring the man. 
11 Bartimeus," they said, " be of good cheer, arise, He calleth 
thee ; " and He never called any one, but He had something 
good in store for him. Oh, sinner ! remember that to-night. 
They led the blind man to Jesus. The Lord says, " What shall 
I do for you ? " " Lord, that I may receive my sight." " You 
shall have it," the Lord said; and straightway his eyes were 
opened. 

I should have liked to have been there, to see that wonderful 
scene. The? first object that met his gaze was the Son of God 
Himself, and now among the shouting multitude, no one shouts 



48 CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 

louder than the poor blind man that has got his sight. He 
glorifies God, and I fancy I can hear him shouting " Hosanna 
to the Son of David," more sweetly than Mr. Sankey can sing. 
Pardon me, if I now draw a little on my imagination. Bar- 
timeus gets into Jericho, and he says, " I will go and see my 
wife, and tell her about it." A young convert always wants to 
talk to his friends about salvation. Away he goes down the 
street, and he meets a man who passes him, goes on a few yards, 
and then turns round and says, " Bartimeus, is that you ? " 
"Yes." " Well, I thought it was, but I could not believe my 
eyes. How have you got your sight ? " " Oh, I just met Jesus 
of Nazareth outside the city, and asked Him to have mercy on 
me." " Jesus of Nazareth ! What, is He in this part of the 
country?" "Yes. He is right here in Jericho. He is now 
going down to the western gate." "I should like to see Him," 
says the man, and away he runs down the street ; but he can- 
not catch a glimpse of Him, even though he stands on tiptoe, 
being little of stature, and on account of the great throng around 
Him. " Well," he says, " I am not going to be disappointed ; " 
so he runs on, and climbs up into a sycamore tree. " If I can 
get on to that branch, hanging right over the highway, He can- 
not pass without my getting a good look at Him." That must 
have been a very strange sight to see the rich man climbing up 
a tree like a boy, and hiding among the leaves, where he thought 
nobody would see him, to get a glimpse of the passing stranger ! 
There is the crowd bursting out, and he looks for Jesus. He 
looks at Peter ; " That's not Him." He looks at John ; " That's 
not Him." At last his eye rested on One fairer than the sons of 
men ; " That's Him ! " And Zaccheus, just peeping out from 
among the branches, looks down upon the wonderful God-man 
in amazement. At last the crowd comes to the tree ; it looks 
as if Christ were going by ; but He stops right under the tree, 
looks up, and says, " Zaccheus, make haste and come down." 
I can imagine, the first thought in his mind was, " Who told 
Him my name? I was never introduced to Him." Ah! He 
knew him. Sinner, Christ knows all about you. He knows 



CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 49 

your name and your house. You need not try to hide from 
Him. He knows where you are, and all about you. 

Some people do not believe in sudden conversion. I should 
like them to answer me when was Zaccheus converted ? He 
was certainly in his sins when he went up into that tree ; he 
certainly was converted when he came down. He must have 
been converted somewhere between the branch and the ground. 
It didn't take a long while to convert that publican ! " Make 
haste and come down. I shall never pass this way again ; this 
is my last visit." Zaccheus made haste, and came down and 
received Him joyfully. Did you ever hear of any one receiv- 
ing Christ in any other way ? He received Him joyfully. Christ 
brings joy with Him. Sin, gloom, and darkness flee away ; 
light, peace, and joy burst into the soul. May there be many 
that shall come down from their high places, and receive Christ 
to-night ! 

Some one may ask, " How do you know that he was con- 
verted ? " I think he gave very good evidence. I would like 
to see as fruitful evidence of conversion here to-night. Let 
some of you rich men be converted, and give half your goods to 
feed the poor, and people will believe pretty quickly that it is 
genuine work ! But there is better evidence even than that. 
" If I have taken anything from any man falsely, / restore him 
fourfold." Very good evidence that. You say if people are 
converted suddenly, they won't hold out. Zaccheus held out 
long enough to restore four-fold. We should like to have a 
work which reaches men's pockets. I can imagine one of his 
servants going to a neighbour next morning, with a check for 
$100. and handing it over. " What is this for ? " " OK, my 
master defrauded you of $25 a few years ago, and this is resti- 
tution money." That would give confidence in Zaccheus' 
conversion ! I wish a few cases like that would happen now 
and then people would stop talking against sudden conver- 
sions. 

The Lord goes to be the publican's guest, and while He is 
there the Pharisees began to murmur and complain. It would 
4 



5 o CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 

have been a good thing if Pharisees had died off with that gen- 
eration ; but, unfortunately, they have left a good many grand- 
children, living down here in the afternoon of this nineteenth 
century, who are ever complaining, " This man receiveth sin- 
ners" But while the Pharisees were complaining, the Lord 
uttered the text I have to-night, " I did not come to Zaccheus 
to make him wretched, to condemn him, to torment him; I 
came to bless and save him. The So?i of Man is come to seek 
and to save that which was lost." 

If there is a man or woman in this audience to-night who 
believes that he or she is lost, I have good news to tell you — 
Christ is come after you. I was at the Fulton Street prayer- 
meeting, a good many years ago, one Saturday night, and when 
the meeting was over, a man came to me, and said, " I would 
like to have you go down to the city prison to-morrow, and 
preach to the prisoners. I said I would be very glad to go. 
There was no chapel in connection with that prison, and I was 
to preach to them in their cells. I had to stand at a little iron 
railing and talk down a great, long narrow passage way, to 
some three or four hundred of them, I suppose, all out of 
sight. It was pretty difficult work ; I never preached to the 
bare walls before. When it was over I thought I would like to 
see to whom I had been preaching, and how they had received 
the gospel. I went to the first door, where the inmates could 
have heard me best, and looked in at a little window, and there 
were some men playing cards. I suppose they had been play- 
ing all the while. " How is it with you here ? " I said. " Well, 
stranger, we don't want you to get a bad idea of us. False 
witnesses swore a lie, and that is how we are here." '• Oh," I 
• said, " Christ cannot save anybody here ; there is nobody lost " 
I went to the next cell. " Well, friend, how is it with you ? " 
" Oh," said the prisoner, " the man that did the deed looked 
very much like me, so they caught me and I am here." He 
was innocent too ! I passed along to the next cell. " How is 
it with you ? " " Well, we got into bad company, and the man 
that did it got clear, and we got taken up, but we never did 



CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 51 

anything." I went along to the next cell. " How is it with 
you ? " " Our trial comes on next week, but they have noth- 
ing against us, and we'll get free." I went round nearly every 
cell, but the answer was always the same — they had never 
done anything. Why, I never saw so many innocent men 
together in my life ! There was nobody to blame but the 
magistrates, according to their way of it. These men were 
wrapping their filthy rags of self-righteousness about them. 
And that has been the story for six thousand years. I got dis- 
couraged as I went through the prison, on, and on, and on, cell 
after cell, and every man had an excuse. If he hadn't one, 
the devil helped him to make one. I had got almost through 
the prison, when I came to a cell and found a man with his 
elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands. Two little 
streams of tears were running down his cheeks ; they did not 
come by drops that time. 

" What's the trouble ? " I said. He looked up the picture of 
remorse and despair. " Oh, my sins are more than I can bear." 
" Thank God for that," I replied. "What," said he, " you are 
the man that has been preaching to us, ain't you ? " " Yes." 
"I think you said you were a friend 7" "I am." "And yet 
you are glad that my sins are more than I can bear ! " "I 
will explain," I said; " if your sins are more than you can 
bear, won't you cast them on One who will bear them for you ? " 
"Who's that?" "The Lord Jesus." "He won't bear my 
sins." " Why not ? " " I have sinned against Him all my life." 
" I don't care if you have ; the blood of Jesus Christ, God's 
Son, cleanses from all sin." Then I told him how Christ had 
come to seek and save that which was lost ; to open the prison 
doors and set the captives free. It was like a cup of refresh- 
ment to find a man who believed he was lost, so I stood there, 
and held up a crucified Saviour to him. " Christ was delivered 
for our offences, died for oifr sins, rose again for our justifica- 
tion." For a long time the man could not believe that such a 
miserable wretch could be saved. He went on to enumerate 
his sins, and I told him that the blood of Christ could covei 



52 CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS, 

them all. After I had talked with him I said, " Now let us 
pray." He got down on his knees inside the cell, and I got 
down outside, and I said, "You pray." "Why," he said, "it 
would be blasphemy for me to call on God." "You call on 
God," I said. He knelt down, and, like the poor publican, he 
lifted up his voice and said, " God be merciful to me, a vile 
wretch ! " I put my hand through the window, and as I shook 
hands with him a tear fell on my hand that burned down into 
my soul. It was a tear of repentance. He believed he was 
lost. Then I tried to get him to believe that Christ had come 
to save him. I left him still in darkness. " I will be at the 
hotel," I said, " between nine and ten o'clock, and I will pray 
for you." Next morning, I felt so much interested in him, that 
I thought I must see him before I went back to Chicago. No 
sooner had my eye lighted on his face, than I saw remorse and 
despair had fled away, and his countenance was beaming with 
celestial light ; the tears of joy had come into his eyes, and the 
fears of despair were gone. The Sun of Righteousness had 
broken out across his path ; his soul was leaping within him for 
joy; he had received Christ, as Zaccheus did, joyfully. " Tell 
me about it," I said. " Well, I do not know what time it was ; 
I think it was about midnight. I had been in distress a long 
time, when all at once my great burden fell off, and now, I 
believe I am the happiest man in New York." I think he was 
the happiest man I saw, from the time I left Chicago till I got 
back again. His face was lighted up with the light that comes 
from the celestial hills. I bade him good-bye, and I expect to 
meet him in another world. 

Can you tell me why the Son of God came down to that 
prison that night, and, passing cell after cell, went to that one, 
and set the captive free ? It was because the man believed he 
was lost. 

But you say, "/ do not feel that.*' Well, never mind your 
feelings ; believe it. Just ask yourself, " Am I saved, or am I 
lost ? " It must be one or the other. There is no neutrality 
about the matter. A man cannot be saved and lost at the same 



CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 53 

time ; it is impossible. Every man and woman in this audi- 
ence must either be saved or lost, if the Bible be true ; and if 
I thought it was not true, I should not be here preaching, and 
I would not advise you people to come ; but if the Bible is 
true, every man and every woman in this room must either be 
in the ark or out of it, either saved or lost. 

I do not believe there would be a dry eye in this city to-night, 
if we would but wake up to the thought of what it is to be lost. 
The world has been rocked to sleep by Satan, who is going up 
and down and telling people that it doesn't mean anything. I 
believe in the old-fashioned heaven and hell. Christ came 
down to save us from a terrible hell, and any man who is cast 
down to hell from this land must go in the full blaze of the 
gospel, and over the mangled body of the Son of God. 

We hear of a man who has lost his health, and we sympathize 
with him, and we say it is very sad. Our hearts are drawn out 
in sympathy. Here is another man who has lost his wealth, 
and we say, " That is very sad." Here is another man who 
has lost his reputation, his standing among men. " That is 
sadder still," you say. We know what it is to lose health and 
wealth, and reputation, but what is the loss of all these things 
compared with the loss of the soul ? 

I was in an eye-infirmary in Chicago some time ago, before 
the great fire. A mother brought a beautiful little babe to the 
doctor— a babe only a few months old — and wanted the doc- 
tor to look at the child's eyes. He did so, and pronounced it 
blind — blind for life — it will never see again. The moment 
he said that, the mother seized it, pressed it to her bosom, and 
gave a terrible scream. It pierced my heart, and I could not 
but weep. What a fearful thought to that mother ! " Oh, my 
darling," she cried, " are you never to see the mother that gave 
you birth? Oh, doctor, I cannot stand it. My child, my 
child ! " It was a sight to move any heart. But what is the 
loss of eyesight to the loss of a soul ? I had a thousand times 
rather have these eyes taken out of my head and go to the grave 
blind, than lose my soul. I have a son, and no one but God 



54 CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 

knows how I love him ; but I would see those eyes dug out of 
his head to-night rather than see him grow up to manhood and 
go down to the grave without Christ and without hope. The 
loss of a soul! Christ knew what it meant. That is what 
brought Him from the bosom of the Father; that is what 
brought Him from the throne ; that is what brought Him to 
Calvary. The Son of God was in earnest. When He died on 
Calvary it was to save a lost world ; it was to save your soul 
and mine. 

O the loss of the soul — how terrible it is ! If you are lost 
to-night, I beseech you do not rest until you have found peace 
in Christ. Fathers and mothers, if you have children out of 
the Ark, do not rest until they are brought into it. Do not 
discourage your children from coming to Christ. I am glad to 
see those little boys and girls here. Dear children, remember 
the sermon is {or you. The Son of Man came for you as much 
as for that old grey-haired man, yonder. He came for all, rich 
and poor, young and old. Young man, if you are lost may 
God show it to you, and may you press into the kingdom. The 
Son of Man is come to seek and to save you. 

There is a story told of Rowland Hill. He was once preach- 
ing in the open air to a vast audience. Lady Anne Erskine 
was riding by, and she asked who it was that was addressing 
the vast assembly. She was told that it was the celebrated 
Rowland Hill. Says, she, " I have heard of him ; drive me 
near the platform, that I may listen to him." The eye of Row- 
land Hill rested on her; he saw that she belonged to royalty, 
and turning to some one, he inquired who she was. He went 
on preaching, and all at once he stopped. " My friends," he 
said, " I have got something here for sale." Everybody was 
startled to think that a minister was going to sell something in 
his sermon. " I am going to sell it by auction, and it is worth 
more than the crown of all Europe : it is the soul of Lady 
Anne Erskine. Will any one bid for her soul ? Hark ! methinks 
I hear a bid. Who bids ? Satan bids. What will you give ? 
I will give riches, honor and pleasure ; yea, I will give the 



CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 55 

whole world for her soul. Hark ! I hear another bid for this 
soul. Who bids ? The Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, what will 
you give for this soul ? I will give peace, and joy, and comfort 
that the world knows not of; yea, I will give eternal life for her 
soul." Turning to Lady Anne Erskine, he said, " You have 
heard the two bidders for your soul — which shall have it?" 
She ordered the footman to open the door, and pushing her way 
through the crowd, she says, " The Lord Jesus shall have my 
soul, if He will accept it." That may be true, or it may not; 
but there is one thing I know to be true — there are two bidders 
for your soul to-night. It is for you to decide which shall have 
it. Satan offers you what he cannot give ; he is a liar, and has 
been from the foundation of the world. I pity the man who is 
living on the devil's promises. He lied to Adam, and deceived 
him, stripped him of all he had, and then left him in his lost, 
ruined condition. And all the men since Adam, living on the 
devil's lies, the devil's promises, have been disappointed, and 
will be, down to the end of the chapter. But the Lord Jesus 
Christ is able to give all He offers, and He offers eternal life to 
every lost soul here. " The gift of God is eternal life." Who 
will have it ? Will any one flash it over the wires, and let it go 
up to the throne of God, that you want to be saved? As Mr. 
Sankey sang of that shout around the throne, my heart went 
up to God, that there might be a great shout for lost ones 
brought home to-night. 

Last night a young man told me he was anxious to be saved, 
but Christ had never sought for him. I said, " What are you 
waiting for ? " " Why," he said, " I am waiting for Christ to 
call me ; as soon as He calls me, I am coming." There may 
be others here who have got the same notion. Now, I do not 
believe there is a man in the city that the Spirit of God has not 
striven with at some period of his life. I do not believe there 
is a person in this audience but Christ has sought after him 
Bear in mind, He takes the place of the seeker. Every man 
who has ever been saved through these six thousand years was 
sought after by God. No sooner did Adam fall, than God 



56 CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 

sought Him. He had gone away frightened, and hid himself 
away among the bushes in the garden, but God took the place 
of the Seeker ; and from that day to this, God has always had 
the place of the Seeker. No man or woman in this audience 
has been saved but that He sought them first. 

What do we read in the fifteenth chapter of St. Luke ? There 
is a shepherd bringing home his sheep into the fold. As they 
pass in, he stands and numbers them. I can see him counting 
one, two, three, up to ninety-nine. " But," says he, " I ought 
to have a hundred ; I must have made a mistake ; " and he 
counts them over again. " There are only ninety-nine here ; I 
must have lost one." He does not say, " I will let him find his 
own way back." No ! He takes the place of the Seeker ; he 
goes out into the mountain, and hunts until he finds the lost 
one, and then he lays it on his shoulder and brings it home. 
Is it the sheep that finds the shepherd ? No, it is the shepherd 
that finds and brings back the sheep. He rejoiced to find it. 
Undoubtedly the sheep was very glad to get back to the fold, 
but it was the shepherd who rejoiced, and who called his friends 
and said, *' Rejoice with me." 

Then there is that woman who lost the piece of money. Some 
one perhaps had paid her a bill that day, giving her ten pieces 
of silver. As she retires at night, she takes the money out of 
her pocket and counts it. " Why," she says, " I have only got 
nine pieces ; I ought to have ten." She counts it over again. 
" Only nine pieces ! Where have I been," she says, " since I 
got that money ? I am sure I have not been out of the house." 
She turns her pocket wrong side out and there she finds a hole 
in it. Does she wait until the money gets back into her pocket ? 
No. She takes a broom, and lights a candle, and sweeps dili- 
gently. She moves the sofa and the table and the chairs, and 
all the rest of the furniture, and sweeps in every corner until 
she finds it. And when she has found it, who rejoices ? The 
piece of money ? No ; the woman who finds it. In these 
parables, Christ brings out the great truth that God takes the 



CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 57 

place of Seeker. People talk of finding Christ, but it is Christ 
who first finds them. 

Another young man told me last night that he was too great 
a sinner to be saved. Why, they are the very men Christ came 
after. " This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them." 
The only charge they could bring against Christ down here was 
that He was receiving bad men. They are the very kind of 
men He is willing to receive. All that you have got to do is, 
to prove that you are a sinner, and I will prove that you have 
got a Saviour. And the greater the sinner, the greater need, 
you have of a Saviour. You say your heart is hard ; well, then, 
of course, you want Christ to soften it. You cannot do it your- 
self. The harder your heart, the more need you have of Christ ; 
the blacker you are, the more need you have of a Saviour. If 
your sins rise up before you like a dark mountain, bear in mind 
that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. There is 
no sin so big, or so black, or so corrupt and vile, but the blood 
of Christ can cover it. So I preach the old gospel again, " The 
Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." 

It was Adam's fall, his loss, that brought out God's love. God 
never told Adam when He put him into Eden, that he loved 
him. It was his fall, his sin, that brought it out. A friend of 
mine from Manchester was in Chicago a few years ago, and he 
was very much interested in the city — a great city, with its 
300,000 or 400,000 inhabitants, with its great railway centers, 
its lumber market, its pork market, and its grain market. He 
said he went back to Manchester and told his friends about 
Chicago. But he could not get anybody very much interested 
in it. It was a great many hundreds of miles away ; and the 
people did not seem to care for hearing about it. But one day 
there came flashing along the wire the sad tidings that it was on 
fire ; and, my friend said, the Manchester people became sud- 
denly interested in Chicago ! Every despatch that came they 
read ; they bought up the papers, and devoured every particle 
of news. And at last, when the despatch came that Chicago 
was burning up, that 100,000 people were turned out of house 



58 CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 

and home, then every one became so interested that they began 
to weep for us. They came forward and laid down their 
money — some gave hundreds of dollars — for the relief of the 
poor sufferers. It was the calamity of Chicago that brought out 
the love of Manchester, and of London, and of Liverpool. I 
was in that terrible fire, and I saw men that were wealthy 
stripped of all they had. That Sunday night, when they retired, 
they were the richest men in Chicago. Next morning they were 
paupers. But I did not see a man weep. But when the news 
came flashing along the wire, " Liverpool gives ten thousand 
dollars; Manchester sends five thousand dollars; London is 
giving money to aid the city;" and as the news kept flashing 
that help was coming, our city was broken-hearted. I saw men 
weep then. The love that was shown us broke our hearts. 
So the love of God ought to break every heart in this city. 
It was love that brought Christ down here to die for us. It 
was love that made Him leave His place by the Father's 
throne and come down here to seek and to save that which was 
lost. 

But now for the sake of these men who believe Christ never 
sought them, perhaps it would be well to say how He seeks. 
There are a great many ways in which He, does so. Last night 
I found a man in the inquiry-room, and the Lord had been 
speaking to him by the prayers of a godly sister who died 
a while ago. Her prayers were answered. He came into the 
inquiry-room trembling from head to foot. I talked to him 
about the plan of salvation, and the tears trickled down his 
cheeks, and at last he took Christ as his Saviour. The Son of 
Man sought out that young man through the prayers of his sister, 
and then through her death. 

Some of you have godly, praying mothers, who have prayed 
whole nights for your soul, and who have now gone to heaven. 
Did not you take their hand and promise that you would meet 
them there ? That was the Son of God seeking you by your 
mothers prayers and your mother's death. Some of you have 
got faithful, godly ministers who weep for you in the pulpit, 



CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 59 

and plead with you to come to Christ. You have heard heart- 
searching sermons, and the truth has gone down deep into your 
heart, and tears have come down your cheeks. That was the 
Son of God seeking you. Some of you have godly, praying 
Sabbath-school teachers and superintendents, urging you to 
come to Christ. Some of you, perhaps, have got young men 
converted round you, and they have talked with you and pleaded 
with you to come to Christ. That was the Son of God seeking 
after your soul. Some of you have had a tract put in your, 
nand with a startling title, " Eternity ; Where will You Spend 
It ? " and the arrow has gone home. That was the Son of God 
seeking after you. Many of you have been laid on a bed of 
sickness, when you had time to think and meditate. And in 
the silent watches of the night, when everybody was asleep 
the spirit of God has come into your chamber, has come 
to your bedside, and the thought came stealing through youi 
mind that you ought to be a child of God and an heir ot 
heaven. That was the Son of God seeking after your lost soul. 
Some of you have had little children, and you have laid them 
yonder in the cemetery. When that little child was dying you 
promised to love and serve God (ah, Have you kept that prom- 
ise?) That was the Son of God seeking you. He took that 
little child yonder to draw your affections heavenwards. 

It would take me all night to tell the different ways in which 
the Lord seeks. Can you rise in this hall to-night and say 
that the Son of God never sought fox you? , I do not believe 
there is a man or woman in this audience or in the whole city 
who could do it. My friend, He has been calling for you from 
your earliest childhood, and He has put it into the hearts of 
God's own people just to call you together in this hall. Prayer 
is going up all over the Christian world for you. Perhaps there 
never has been a time in the history of your life when so many 
were praying for you as at the present time. That is the Son 
of God seeking for your soul through the prayers of the 
Church, through the prayers of ministers, through the prayers 
of the saints not only about you but throughout the world. I 



<5o CHRIST SEEKING SINNERS. 

■am receiving letters almost daily from both sides the ocean, 
saying continual prayer is going up to God for this work. What 
does it mean? God has laid it upon the heart of the Church 
throughout the world to pray for this work. It must be that 
God has something good in store for us here ; the Son of 
Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost ; and 
I pray that the Good Shepherd may enter this hall to- 
night, and may come to many a heart, and that you may 
hear the still small voice : " Behold, I stand at the door 
and knock ; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I 
will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me." 
O friends, open the door to-night, and let the heavenly Visitor 
in. Do not turn Him away any longer. Do not say with 
Felix, " Go thy way this time, and when I have a convenient 
season I will call for thee." Make this a convenient season; 
make this the night of your salvation. Receive the gift of God 
to-night, and open the door of your heart, and say, " Welcome, 
thrice welcome into this heart of mine." 



SINNERS SEEKING CHRIST 

tt Seek the Lord while He may be found ; call ye upon 
Him while He is near." — Isaiah lv. 6. 



I have been speaking about the Son of Man seeking the lost ; 
out now I want to take up the other side of the case — man's 
side. I have learned this, that when any one becomes in 
earnest about his soul's salvation he begins to seek God, and it 
does not take a great while for them to meet ; it does not take 
long for an anxious sinner to meet an anxious Saviour. What 
do we read in the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, 13th verse? " Ye 
shall seek Me and find Me when ye shall search for Me with all 
your hearth These are the men who find Christ — those who 
seek for Him with all their heart. I am tired and sick of half- 
heartedness. You don't like a half-hearted man ; you don't 
care for any one to love you with a half heart, and the Lord 
* won't have it. If we are going to seek for Him and find Him, 
we must do it with all our heart. I believe the reason why so 
few people find Christ is because they do not search for Him 
with all their heart ; they are not terribly in earnest about their 
soul's salvation. God is in earnest ; everything God has done 
proves that He is in earnest about the salvation of men's souls. 
He has proved it by giving his only Son to die for us. The 
Son of God was in earnest when He died. What is Calvary 
but a proof of that ? And the Lord wants us to be in earnest 
when it comes to this great question of the soul's salvation. I 



62 SINNERS SEEKING CHRIST, 

never saw men seeking Him with all their hearts but they soon 
found Him. 

It was quite refreshing, one night, to find in the inquiry-room 
a young man who thought he was not worth saving, he was so 
vile and wicked. There was hope for him because he was so 
desperately in earnest about his soul. He thought he was 
worthless. He had got a sight of himself in God's looking- 
glass, and when a man does that he has a very poor opinion of 
himself. You can always tell when a man is a great way from 
God — he is always talking about himself, and how good he is. 
But the moment he sees God by the eye of faith he is down on 
his knees, and, like Job, he cries, " Behold, I am vile." All his 
goodness flees away. What men want is to be in earnest about 
their salvation, and they will soon find Christ. You do not 
need to go up to the heights to bring Him down, or down to 
the depths to bring Him up, or to go off to some distant city to 
find Him. This day He is near to every one of us. I heard 
some one in the inquiry-room telling a young person to go 
home and seek Christ in his closet. I would not dare to tell 
anyone to do that. You might be dead before you got home. 
If I read my Bible correctly, the man who preaches the gospel 
is not the man who tells me to seek Christ to-morrow or an hour 
hence, but now. He is near to every one of us this minute to 
save. If the world would just come to God for salvation, and 
be in earnest about it, they would find the Son of God right at 
the door of their heart. 

Suppose I should say I lost a very valuable diamond here 
last night — I have not, but suppose it — worth $100,000. I 
had it in my pocket when I came into the hall, and when I had 
done preaching I found it was not in my pocket, but was in the 
hall somewhere. And suppose I was to say that any one who 
found it could have it. How earnest you would all become ! 
You would not get very much of my sermon ; you would all be 
thinking of the diamond. I do not believe the police could 
get you out of this hall. The idea of finding a diamond worth 
$ roo,ooo! If you could only find it, it would lift you out of 



SINNERS SEEKING CUEIST. 63 

poverty at once, and you would be independent for the rest of 
your days. Oh, how soon everybody would become terribly in 
earnest then ! I would to God I could get men to seek for 
Christ in the same way. I have got something worth more 
than a diamond to offer you. Is not salvation — eternal life — 
worth more than all the diamonds in the world ? Suppose 
Gabriel should wing his way from the throne of God and come 
down here, and say he had been commissioned by Jehovah to 
come and offer to this assembly any one gift you might choose. 
You could have just what you chose, but only one thing. What 
would it be ? The wealth of this city, or of the world ? Would 
that be your choice ? Ten thousand times, no ! Your one cry 
would be, " Life ! eternal life ! " 

There is nothing that men value as they do life. Let a man 
be out on a wreck that is fast going down. He is worth a mil- 
lion dollars and his only chance is to give up that million 
dollars just to save the life of the body. He would give it up 
in a moment. " Skin for skin ; all that a man hath will he give 
for his life." I understand some people have been afraid to 
come to this hall because there might be a cry of " Fire ! fire ! " 
and a panic, and they might lose their life. Yet there are 
twenty doors to the building ; I do not know that I ever saw 
a building that you could get out of easier. Yet people seem 
to sleep, and to forget that there is no door out of hell. If they 
enter they must temain, age after age. Millions on millions of 
years will roll on, but there will be no door, no escape out of 
hell. May God wake up this slumbering congregation and 
make you anxious about your souls. People talk about our 
being earnest and fanatical — about our being on fire. Would 
to God the Church was on fire ; this world would soon shake 
to its foundation. May God wake up a slumbering Church ! 
What we want men to do is not to shout "Amen," and clasp 
their hands. The deepest and quietest waters very often run 
swiftest. We want men to go right to work ; there will be a 
chance for you to shout by-and-by. Go and speak to your 
neighbour, and tell him of Christ and heaven. You need not 



6 4 SINNERS SEEKING CHRIST. . 

go a few yards down these streets before you find some one 
who is passing down to the darkness of eternal death. Let us 
haste to the rescue ! 

What we want to see is men really wishing to become Chris- 
tians, men who are in dead earnest about it. The idea of hear- 
ing a man say in answer to the question. " Do you want to 
become a Christian ? " " Well, I would not mind." My friend, 
I do not think you will ever get into the kingdom of God until 
you change your language. We want men crying from the 
depths of their heart, " I want to be saved." On the day of 
Pentecost the cry was, " Men and brethren, what shall we do ? " 
These men were in earnest, and they found Christ right there ; 
three thousand found Him, when they sought with all their 
hearts. When men seek Christ as they do wealth, they will 
soon find Him. To be sure, the world will raise a cry that they 
are excited. Let cotton go up ten or fifteen per cent before 
to-morrow morning, and you will see how quickly the merchants 
will get excited! And the papers don't cry it down either. 
They say it is healthy excitement; commerce is getting on. 
But when you begin to get excited about your soul's salvation, 
and are in earnest, then they raise the cry, " Oh, they are get- 
ting excited; most unhealthy state of things." Yet they don't 
talk about men hastening down to death by thousands. There 
is the poor drunkard, look at him ! Hear the piercing cry going 
up to heaven ! Yet the Church of God slumbers and sleeps. 
Here and there is an inquirer, and yet they go into the inquiry- 
room as if they were half asleep. When will men seek for Christ 
as they seek for wealth, or as they seek for honour ? 

I am told that when the war broke out on the Gold Coast, 
though it was known that the climate was a very unhealthy one, 
and a great many who went there would never return, yet hun- 
dreds and thousands of men wanted to go. Why? They 
wanted to get wealth, and from wealth, honour. And if there 
is a chance of going to India, no end of men are willing to go. 
To get a little honour they will sacrifice comfort, pleasure. 



SINNERS SEEKING CHRIST. 65 

health, and everything. What we want, is to have men seeking 
the kingdom of God, as they seek for honour and wealth. 

As I said, if life is in danger, how terribly in earnest men 
become. That is right; there is no doubt about that. But 
why should not men be as much in earnest about their soul's 
salvation ? Why should not every man and woman here wake 
up and seek the Lord with all their heart? Then, the Lord 
says, you shall find Him. 

There is a story told of a vessel that was wrecked, and was 
going down at sea. There were not enough lifeboats to take all 
on board. When the vessel went down, some of the lifeboats 
were near the vessel. A man swam from the wreck just as it 
was going down, to one of the boats ; but they had no room to 
take him, and they refused. When they refused, he seized hold 
of the boat with his right hand, but they took a sword and cut 
off his fingers. When he had lost the fingers of his right hand, 
the man was so earnest to save his life that he seized the boat 
with his left hand ; they cut off the fingers of that hand too. 
Then the man swam up and seized the boat with his teeth, and 
they had compassion on him and relented. They could not cut 
off his head, so they took him in, and the man saved his life. 
Why ? Because he was in earnest. Why not seek your soul's 
salvation as that man sought to save his life ? 

Will there ever be a better time ? Will there ever be a better 
time for that old man whose locks are growing grey, whose eyes 
are growing dim, and who is hastening to the grave ? Is not 
this the very best time for him ? " Seek the Lord while He may 
be found." There is a man in the middle of life. Is this not 
the best time for him to seek the kingdom of God ! Will he 
ever have abetter opportunity ? Will Christ ever be more will- 
ing to save than now ? He says, " Come, for all things are now 
ready." Not going to be, but are now ready. There is a young 
man. My friend, is it not the best time for you to seek the 
kingdom of God? Seek the Lord, you can find him here 
to-night. Can you say that you will find Him here to-morrow? 
Will anyone rise up in this hall and say that ? Young man, you 
5 



66 SINNERS SEEKING CHRIST. 

know not what to-morrow may bring forth. Do you know that 
since we met here last night 43,000 souls have passed from time 
to eternity ? Do you know that every time the clock ticks a 
soul passes away ? Is not this the best time for you to seek the 
kingdorri of God ? 

My boy, the Lord wants you. Seek ye first the kingdom of 
God, and seek Him while He may be found. Over twenty 
years ago, a great revival swept over this land. A great many 
men stood and shook their heads ; they could not believe it was 
a healthy state of things. The Church was not in its normal 
state ! The Church from Maine to Minnesota, and on to Cali- 
fornia, was astir. And as you passed over this great republic, 
over its western prairies and mountains, and through its valleys, 
as you went on by train, and as you passed through its cities 
and villages, you could see the churches lit up ; and men were 
flocking into the kingdom of God by- hundreds. And in a year 
and a half or two years there were more than half a million souls 
brought in. Men said it was false excitement, wildfire, and it 
would pass away. But, my friends, it was grace preceding 
judgment. Little did we know that our nation was soon to be 
baptized in blood, and that we would soon hear the tramp of a 
milion men, that hundreds and thousands of our young men, 
the flower of our nation, would soon be lying in a soldier's 
grave. But, oh, my friends, it was God calling his people in. 
He was preparing our nation for a terrible struggle. 

And now, it seems to me that there is another wave of bless- 
ing passing over this earth. Tidings are coming from all parts 
of the world, telling us of the great work God is doing. The 
last tidings from India, told us of a blessed work going on 
there. The last tidings from Japan and from other places — 
we have the same good news of God pouring out his Spirit. It 
was only the other day that two men came up here from a town 
of 50,000 inhabitants, and wanted us to go there ; but we could 
not, and we told them to go home and get to work themselves 
To-day one of them told us that they had sixteen last night 
in the inquiry-room. God is pouring out his Spirit everywhere. 



SINNERS SEEKING CHRIST. 67 

Everywhere men are putting in the sickle and bringing their 
sheaves and laying them at the feet of the Master. I believe 
we are living in the days that our fathers prayed for. The 
heavens are open, and the Spirit of God is descending upon 
the sons of men. 

Now, this time of revival is a good time to seek the Lord. 
Will you ever have a better time ? The tidings from every 
city is this — the people are praying. It is a question in my 
mind if there was ever so much prayer going up to God as at 
the present. Not only here, but all around the world, we have 
God's people making their hearts burdened for the salvation 
of souls. And is it not God working ? Will there ever be a 
better time for you to seek the kingdom of God than the 
present, when there is such a great awakening, when there is 
such a spirit of expectation ; when the Church of God is com- 
ing up as one man, and the spirit of unity prevails ? Think of 
the praying ones here. Do you believe there were ever so 
many men and women praying for your soul as there are here 
to-night ? Look over this audience — what are these Chris- 
tians doing now ! They are silently praying to God. I can 
see they are praying. There is a young man with his mother 
sitting by his side. That mother is pleading, " God save my 
boy to-night ! " May it go down deep into his soul ! " Seek 
ye the Lord while He may be found." 

Now, let me ask you a question. Do you believe that the 
Lord can be found here to-night ? I appeal to these ministers 
present at my side ; do you believe He can ? They answer 
" Yes." My friends do you believe it ? Another Yes comes 
from the audience. Well, if He can, is it not the height of 
madness for any man or woman to go out of this hall without 
seeking Him ? If He can be found, why not seek Him ? 
Young lady, why not seek Him with all your heart ? Young 
man, why not seek Christ to-night with all your heart ? Why 
not say, " I must be saved ?" There is nothing so important as 
this great question of salvation. 

Supposing you could win the world, what would you do with 



68 SINNERS SEEKING CHRIST. 

it ? Would it be worth as much as Christ ? Let everything 
else be laid aside, and make up your minds that you will not 
rest until you have sought and found the Lord Jesus. I never 
knew any one make up his mind to seek Him but he soon found 
Him. At Dublin a young man found Christ. He went home 
and lived so godly and so Christ-like, that two of his brothers 
could not understand what had wrought the change in him. 
They left Dublin and followed us to Sheffield, and found 
Christ there. They were in earnest. But, thanks be to God, 
you have not got to go out of this hall. Christ can be found 
here to-night. I firmly believe every one here can find Christ 
to-night if you will seek for Him with all your heart. He says, 
" Call upon Me." Did you ever hear of any one calling on 
Christ with the whole heart, that Christ didn't answer ? Look 
at that thief on the cross ! It may have been that he had a 
praying mother, and that his mother taught him the fifty-third 
chapter of Isaiah. He had heard Christ pray that wonderful 
prayer, " Father, forgive them." And as he was hanging on 
the cross that text of Scripture came to his mind, " Seek the 
Lord while He may be found ; call ye upon Him while He is 
near." The truth came flashing into his soul, and he says, 
" He is near me now ; I will call on Him. Lord, remember 
me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." No sooner had he 
called than the Lord said, " This day shalt thou be with Me in 
paradise." That was his seeking opportunity, his day. My 
friends, this is your day now. I believe that every man has his 
day. You have it just now ; why not call upon Him just now ? 
Say, as the poor thief did, " Lord remember me." That was 
his golden opportunity, and the Lord heard and answered and 
saved him. Did not Bartimeus call on Him while He was near ? 
Christ was passing by Jericho for the last time, and he cried 
out, " Thou Son of David, have mercy on me." And did not 
the Lord hear his prayer, and give him his sight ? It was a 
good thing Zaccheus called — or rather the Lord called him, 
but when the Lord called he came. May the Lord call many 
here, and may you respond, u Lord, here am I ; you have 



SINNERS SEEKING CHRIST. 69 

called and I come." Do you believe the Lord will call a 
poor sinner, and then cast him out ? No ! His word stands 
for ever, " Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast 
out." 

I was glad when that man I told you of, said he felt as if he 
was too bad. Men are pretty near the kingdom of God when they 
do not see anything good in themselves. At the Fulton Street 
prayer-meeting a man came in, and this was his story. He said 
he had a mother who prayed for him ; he was a wild, reckless 
prodigal. Some time after his mother's death he began to be 
troubled. He thought he ought to get into new company, and 
leave his old companions. So he said he would go and join a 
secret society ; he thought he would join the Odd Fellows. 
They went and made inquiry about him, and they found he was 
a drunken sailor, so they black-balled him. They would not 
have him. He went to the Freemasons ; he had nobody to 
recommend him, so they inquired and found there was no good 
in his character, and they, too, black-balled him. They didn't 
want him. One day, some one handed him a little notice in the 
street about the prayer-meeting, and he went in. He heard 
that Christ had come to save sinners. He believed Him ; he 
took Him at his word ; and, in reporting the matter, he said he 
" came to Christ without a character, and Christ hadn t black-balled 
him." 

My friends, that is Christ's way. Is there a man here with- 
out a character, with nobody to say a good word for him ? I 
bring you good news. Call on the Son of God, and He will hear 
you. Call on Him to-night. 

I was at a meeting for ministers the other day. Up in the 
gallery there was one solitary woman ; she sat there alone. When 
the meeting was over and I was passing out, she came and said, 
" Mr. Moody, do you remember me ? " " Oh, yes," I said, " I 
remember you." Where had I met her? Mr. Sankey and my- 
self were leaving Dundee for the north of Scotland. There was 
a lady who had come from London and brought her two boys 
all the way to get blessed ; they must have been about eighteen 



70 SINNERS SEEKING CHRIST. 

or nineteen — twins. That mother's heart was burdened for 
their salvation. The last night we had a meeting there, one of 
the sons yielded himself up to Christ, and the mother went back 
next morning with her two boys, rejoicing that they had asked 
and found peace in believing. Some people may say that she 
was a great fanatic for going all the way from London to Dun- 
dee with her boys to get a blessing. But last Friday she says, 
" My boy who found the Lord in Dundee, died three weeks 
ago." And as she pressed my hand as I left the meeting, I 
said to myself, " Was it not a good thing that mother took her 
boy to Dundee ? " My friends, let us be in earnest about the 
salvation of our children and of our friends. Warn that young 
lady. Yes, mother, speak to that daughter of yours. Father, 
speak to that child of yours. Wife, speak to your unconverted 
husband ; husband, speak to your unconverted wife. * Do not 
let a man go out of this house saying, " Nobody cared for my 
soul." I never saw a mother burdened for her children but 
they soon became anxious. Oh, may there be many a sinner 
seeking the kingdom of God with all their heart ! 

Before I close, I want to ask you once more, " What are you 
going to do? If the Lord is near, won't you call upon Him? 
Don't let that scoffing man next you keep you out of the king- 
dom of God. There is a scornful look upon that man's face ; 
perhaps he is making light of what I am saying. Don't mind 
him ; don't look to him ; but just look right up to God, and 
ask Him to save you. Now, every true friend — and you all 
have friends — every true friend, if you could get his advice to- 
night, would tell you to be saved now. Ask that minister 
sitting next you, " Had I better seek the kingdom of God to- 
night ? " What does he tell you ? " By all means, don't put it 
off another minute." Ask that godly praying mother, by your 
side, " Is it best to seek the kingdom of God to-night ? " Does 
she say, Put it off one week, or put it off one month ? Do you 
think that mother would say that ? There is not a Christian 
mother in this hall who would say it. I doubt if there is an 
unconverted mother even here whose advice would be to put 



SINNERS SEEKING CHRIST. 71 

off becoming a Christian. Ask that praying sister of yours, ask 
that praying brother, ask any friend you have here — if you are 
sitting near one — whether it is not the very best thing you can 
do. And then cry up to heaven and ask Him who is sitting at 
the right hand of God, and who loves you more than your father 
or your mother, or anyone on earth — who loves you so much 
that He gave Himself for you ; ask Him what He will have you 
do, and hear his voice from the throne, <# Seek ye first the king- 
dom of God." And then shout down to the infernal regions, 
and ask those down there, and what will they say ? " Send 
some one to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he 
may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place." 
Heaven, earth, and hell unite in this one thing, " Seek first the 
kingdom of God." Don't put it off. Call upon Him while He 
is near. And if you call upon Him in real earnest He will 
hear that call. 

You may call too late. I have no doubt that those who 
would not pray when the ark was building prayed when the 
flood came, but their prayer was not answered. I have no 
doubt that when Lot went out of Sodom, Sodom cried to God, 
but it was too late, and God's judgment swept them from the 
earth. My friends, it is not too late now, but it may be at 
twelve o'clock to-night. I cannot find any place in this Bible 
where I can say you may call to-morrow. I am not justified in 
saying that. " Behold, now is the accepted time ; now is the day of 
salvation." Those men of Jerusalem, what a golden opportunity 
they had, with Christ in their midst. We see the Son of God weep- 
ing over Jerusalem, His heart bursting with grief for the city, as He 
cried, " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! thou that stonest the prophets, 
how often would I have gathered thee as a hen gathereth her 
brood, but ye would not." He could look down forty years, and 
see Titus coming with his army, and besieging that city. They 
called upon God then, but it was too late, and eleven hundred 
thousand people perished. To-night is a time of mercy. It 
may be I am talking to some one to-night whose days of grace 
may be few, to some one who may be snatched away very 



72 SINNERS SEEKING CHRIST. 

soon. There may be some one here to-night who may never 
hear another gospel sermon ; some one who may be hearing 
the last call. My friend, be wise to night. Make up your 
mind that you will seek the kingdom of God now. " Behold, 
now is the accepted time ; behold, now is the day of salvation." 
Christ is inviting you to come — " Come unto Me, all ye that 
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Oh, 
may we all find rest in Christ to-night ! Do not let anything 
divert your minds, but this night, this hour, make up your mind 
that you will not leave this hall until the great question of eter- 
nity has been settled. 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 

Matt. xxii. 42. 



I suppose there is no one here who has not thought more or 
less, about Christ. You have heard about Him, and read about 
Him, and heard men preach about Him. For eighteen hundred 
years, men have been talking about Him, and thinking about 
Him ; and some have their minds made up about who He is, 
and doubtless some have not. And although all these years 
have rolled away, this question comes up, addressed to each 
of us, to-day, " What think ye of Christ ? " 

I do not know why it should not be thought a proper ques- 
tion for one man to put to another. If I were to ask you what 
you think of any of your prominent men, you would already 
have your mind made up about him. If I were to ask you 
what you think of our President you would speak right out, 
and tell me your opinion in a minute. If I were to ask about 
your governor, you would tell me freely what you had for 
or against him. And why should not people make up their 
minds about the Lord Jesus Christ, and take their stand for or 
against Him ? If you think well of Him, why not speak well 
of- Him, and range yourselves on His side? And if you think 
ill of Him, and believe Him to be an impostor, and that He 
did not die to save the world, why not lift up your voice, and 
say you are against Him? It would be a happy day for 
Christianity if men would just take sides — if we could 
know positively who was really for Him, and who was against 
Him. 



74 WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 

It is of very little importance what the world thinks of any 
one else. All the great ones, all the noble people of this 
world must soon be gone. Yes ; it matters little compara- 
tively what we think of them. Their lives can only interest a 
few; but every living soul on the face of the earth is concerned 
with this Man. The question for the world is, " What think ye 
of Christ ? " I do not ask you what you think of the Epis - 
copal' Church, or of the Presbyterians, or the Baptists, or the 
Roman Catholics ; I do not ask you what you think of this 
minister or that, of this doctrine or that ; but I want to ask you 
what you think of the living person of Christ ? 

I should like to ask, Was He really the Son of God — the 
great God-man ? Did He leave heaven and come down to this 
world for a purpose ? Was it really to seek and to save ? I 
should like to begin with the manger, and follow Him up 
through the thirty-three years He was here upon earth. I 
should ask you what you think of His coming into this world, 
and being born in a manger when it might have been a palace ; 
why He left the grandeur and the glory of heaven, and the royal 
retinue of angels; why He passed by palaces and crowns and 
dominion, and came down here alone ? 

I should like to ask what you think of Him as a teacher ? He 
spake as never man spake. I should like to take Him up as a 
preacher. I should like to bring you to that mountain side, 
that we might listen to the words as they fall from His gentle 
lips. Talk about the preachers of the present day ! I would 
rather a thousand times be five minutes at the feet of Christ, 
than listen a lifetime to all the wise men in the world. He 
used just to hang truth upon anything. Yonder is a sower, a 
fox, a bird, and He just gathers the truth round them, so that 
you cannot see a fox, a sower, or a bird, without thinking what 
Jesus said. Yonder is a lily of the valley, you cannot see it 
without thinking of His words, " They toil not, neither do they 
spin." He makes the little sparrow chirping in the air preach 
to us. How fresh those wonderful sermons are, how they live 
to-day ! How we love to tell them to our children, how the 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 75 

children love to hear ! " Tell me a story about Jesus/' how 
often we hear it ; how the little ones love His sermons ! Na 
story-book in the world will ever interest them like the stories 
that He told. And yet how profound He was ; how He puzzled 
the wise men ; how the scribes and the Pharisees could never 
fathom Him ! Oh, do you not think He was a wonderful 
preacher ? 

I should like to ask you what you think of Him as a physi- 
cian. A man would soon have a reputation as a doctor if he 
could cure as Christ did. No case was ever brought to Him 
but what He was a match for. He had but to speak the word, 
and disease fled before Him. Here comes a man covered with 
leprosy. " Lord, if Thou wilt Thou canst make me clean," he 
cries. "I will," says the Great Physician, and in an instant the 
leprosy is gone. The world rjas hospitals for incurable dis- 
eases ; but there were no incurable diseases with Him. 

Now see Him in the little home at Bethany, binding up the 
wounded hearts of Martha and Mary, and tell me what you 
think of Him as a comforter. He is a husband to the widow, 
and a father to the fatherless. The weary may find a resting- 
place upon that breast, and the friendless may reckon Him 
their friend. He never varies, He never fails, He never dies. 
His sympathy is ever fresh. His love is ever free. O widow 
and orphans, O Sorrowing and mourning, will you not thank 
God for Christ the comforter ? 

But these are not the points I wish to take up. Let us go 
to those who knew Christ, and ask what they thought of Him. 
If you want to find out what a man is now-a-days, you inquire 
about him from those who know him best. I do not wish to 
be partial ; we will go to his enemies, and to his friends. We 
will ask them, What think ye of Christ ? We will ask his 
friends and his enemies. If we only went to those who liked 
Him, you would say, " Oh, he is so blind ; he thinks so much 
of the man that he can't see his faults. Ypu can't get any 
thing out of him, unless it be in his favour ; it is a one-sided 
affair altogether." So we shall go in the first place to his ene- 



76 WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST 2 

mies, to those who hated Him, persecuted Him, cursed and 
slew Him. I shall put you in the jury-box, and pall upon 
them to tell us what they think of Him. 

First, among the witnesses, let us call upon the Pharisees. 
We know how they hated him. Let us put a few questions to 
them. Come, Pharisees, tell us what you have against the Son 
of God. What do you think of Christ ? Hear what they say ! 
This man receiveth sinners. What an argument to bring against 
Him ! Why, it is the very thing that makes us love Him. It 
is the glory of the gospel. He receives sinners. If He had 
not, what would have become of us ? Have you nothing more 
to bring against Him than this? Why, it is one of the 
greatest compliments that was ever paid Him. Once more ; 
when He was hanging on the tree, you had this to say of Him, 
"He saved others, Himself He cannot save." And so He did 
save others, but He could not save Himself and save us too. 
So He laid down His own life for yours and mine. Yes, Phari- 
sees, you have told the truth for once in your lives ! He saved 
others. He died for others. He was a ransom for many ; so it 
is quite true what you think of Him — He saved others^ Him- 
self He cannot save. 

Now, let us call upon Caiaphas. Let him stand up here in 
his flowing robes ; let us ask him for his evidence. " Caiaphas, 
you were chief priest when Christ was tried ; you were presi- 
dent of the Sanhedrim ; you were in the council-chamber when 
they found Him guilty ; you yourself condemned Him. Tell 
us, what did the witnesses say ? On what grounds did you 
judge Him ? What testimony was brought against Him ? 

" He hath spoken blasphemy," says Caiaphas. " He said, 
* Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right 
hand of power, and coming in the clo ads of heaven/ When I 
heard that, I found Him guilty of blasphemy; I rent my 
mantle, and condemned Him to death." Yes, all that they 
had against Him was that He was the Son of God ; and they 
slew Him for the promise of His coming for His bride. 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST 7 77 

Now, let us summon Pilate. Let him enter the witness-box. 
Pilate, this man was brought before you ; you examined Him ; 
you talked with Him face to face, what think ye of Christ ? " I 
find no fault in Him," says Pilate. " He said He was the King 
of the Jews " (just as he wrote it over the cross) ; " but I find 
no fault in Him." Such is the testimony of the man who 
examined Him! And, as he stands there, the centre of a 
Jewish mob, there comes along a man, elbowing his way, in 
haste. He rushes up to Pilate and, thrusting out his hand, 
gives him a message. He tears it open ; his face turns pale as 
he reads — " Have thou nothing to do with this just man, for I 
have suffered many things this day in a dream because of 
Him." It is from Pilate's wife — her testimony to Christ. 
You want to know what His enemies thought of Him ? You 
want to know what a heathen thought ? Well, here it is, " no 
fault in Him ;" and the wife of a heathen, " this just man ! " 

And now, look — in comes Judas. He ought to make a good 
witness. Let us address him. " Come, tell us, Judas, what 
think ye of Christ. You knew the Master well ; you sold Him 
for thirty pieces of silver ; you betrayed Him with a kiss ; you 
saw Him perform those miracles ; you were with Him in Jeru- 
salem. In Bethany, when He- summoned up Lazarus, you 
were there. What think ye of Him ? " I can see him as he 
comes into the presence of the chief priests ; I can hear the 
money ring as he dashes it upon the table — " I have betrayed 
innocent blood ! " Here is the man who betrayed Him, and this 
is what he thinks of Him ! Yes, my friends, God has made 
every man who had anything to do with the death of his Son 
put their testimony on record that He was an innocent Man. 

Let us take the Centurion, who was present at the execu- 
tion. He had charge of the Roman soldiers. He had told 
them to make Him carry his cross ; he had given orders for 
the nails to be driven into His feet and hands, for the spear to 
be thrust in His side. Let the Centurion come forward. " Cen- 
turion, you had charge of the executioners ; you saw that the 
order for His death was carried out ; you saw Him die; you 



78 WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 

heard Him speak upon the cross. Tell us, what think ye of 
Christ? " Hark ! Look at him ; he is smiting his breast as he 
cries, " Truly, this was the Son of God! " 

I might go to the thief upon the cross, and ask what he 
thought of Him. At first he railed upon Him and reviled 
Him. But then he thought better of it. " This man hath 
done nothing amiss, ,, he says. I might go further. I might 
summon the very devils themselves and ask them for their tes- 
timony. Have they anything to say of Him ? Why, the very 
devils called Him the Son of God ! In Mark we have the 
unclean spirit crying, "Jesus, Thou Son of the most High 
•God." Men say, Oh, I believe Christ to be the Son of God, 
and because I believe it intellectually, I shall be saved. I tell 
you the devils did that. And they did more than that, they 
trembled. 

Let us bring in His friends. We want you to hear their evi- 
dence. Let us call that prince of preachers. Let us hear the 
forerunner, the wilderness preacher, John. Save the Master 
Himself, none ever preached like this man — this man who 
drew all Jerusalem and all Judea into the wilderness to hear 
him ; this man who burst upon the nations like the flash of a 
meteor. Let John the Baptist, come with his leathern girdle 
and his hairy coat, and let him tell us what he thinks of 
Christ. His words, though they were echoed in the wilder- 
ness of Palestine, are written in the Book forever, " Behold the 
Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." This 
is what John the Baptist thought of Him. " I bear record 
that He is the Son of God." No wonder he drew all Jerusa- 
lem and Judea to him, because he preached Christ, And 
whenever men preach Christ, they are sure to have plenty of 
followers. 

Let us bring in Peter, who was with Him on the mount of 
transfiguration, who was with Him the night He was betrayed. 
" Come, Peter, tell us what you think of Christ. Stand in 
this witness-box and testify of Him. You denied Him once. 
You said, with a curse, you did not know Him. Was it true, 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 79 

Peter ? Don't you know Him ? " " Know Him ! " I can 
imagine Peter saying ; " It was a lie I told them. I did know 
Him." Afterwards I can hear him charging home their guilt 
upon these Jerusalem sinners. He calls Him " both Lord and 
Christ." Such was the testimony on the day of Pentecost. 
" God hath made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ." 
And tradition tells us that when they came to execute Peter, 
he felt he was not worthy to die in the way his Master died, 
and he requested to be crucified with his head downwards. 
So much did Peter think of Him ! 

Now let us hear from the beloved disciple John. He knew 
more about Christ than any other man. He had laid his head 
on his Saviour's bosom. He had heard the throbbing of that 
loving heart. Look into his gospel if you wish to know what 
he thought of Him. 

Matthew writes of Him as the Royal King come from his 
throne. Mark writes of Him as the servant, and Luke as the 
Son of Man. John takes up his pen, and with one stroke, for 
ever settles the question of Unitarianism. He goes right back 
before the time of Adam. " In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Look 
into Revelation. He calls Him " the bright and the Morning 
Star." So John thought well of Him — because he knew Him well. 

We might bring in Thomas, the doubting disciple. " You 
doubted Him, Thomas ? You would not believe He had risen, 
and you put your fingers into the wound in His side. What 
do you think of Him?" " My Lord and my God!" says 
Thomas. 

Then go over to Decapolis and you will find Christ has been 
there casting out devils. Let us call the men of that country 
and ask what they think of Him. " He hath done all things well" 
they say. 

But we have other witnesses to bring in. Take the persecut- 
ing Saul, once one of the worst of His enemies. Breathing out 
threatenings, he meets Him. " Saul, Saul, why persecutest 
thou Me ? " says Christ ; and He might have added, " What 



80 WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST 1 

* 

have I done to you ? Have I injured you in any way ? Did 1 
not come to bless you ? Why do you treat Me thus, Saul ? M 
And then Saul asks, " Who art Thou, Lord ? " " I am Jesus of 
Nazareth, whom thou persecutest." You see, He was not 
ashamed of His name ; although He had been in heaven, " I 
am Jesus of Nazareth ." What a change did that one interview 
make to Paul ! A few years after we hear him say, u I have 
suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dross that 
I may win Christ. ,, Such a testimony to the Saviour ! 

But I shall go still further. I shall go away from earth into 
the other world. I shall summon the angels and ask what they 
think of Christ. They saw Him in the bosom of the Father 
before the world was. Before the dawn of creation ; before the 
morning stars sang together, He was there. They saw Him 
leave the throne and come down to the manger. What a scene 
for them to witness! Ask these heavenly beings what they* 
thought of Him then. For once they are permitted to speak ; 
for once the silence of heaven is broken. Listen to their song 
on the plains of Bethlehem, " Behold, I bring you good tidings 
of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born 
this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the 
Lord." He leaves the throne to save the world. Is it a wonder 
the angels thought well of Him ? 

Then there are the redeemed saints — they that see Him face 
to face. Here on earth He was never known, no one seemed 
really to be acquainted with Him ; but He was known in that 
world where He had been from the foundation. What do they 
think of Him there ? If we could hear from heaven, we should 
hear a shout which would glorify and magnify His name. We 
are told that when John was in the Spirit on the Lord's-day, 
and being caught up, he heard a shout around him, ten thou- 
sand times ten thousand, and thousands and thousands of 
voices, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, 
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, 
and blessing ! " Yes, He is worthy of all this. Heaven can- 
not speak too well of Him. Oh, that earth would take up the 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 81 

echo, and join with heaven in singing, " Worthy to receive 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and 
glory, and blessing ! " 

But there is yet another witness, a higher still. Some think 
that the God of the Old Testament is the Christ of the New. 
But when Jesus came out of Jordan, baptized by John, there 
came a voice from heaven. God the Father spoke. It was 
His. testimony to Christ : " This is my beloved Son, in whom I 
am well pleased." Ah, yes! God the Father thinks well of 
the Son. And if God is well pleased with Him, so ought we. 
If the sinner and God are well pleased with Christ, then the 
sinner and God can meet. The moment you say as the Father 
said, " I am well pleased with Him," and accept Him, you are 
wedded to God. Will you not believe the testimony ? Will 
you not believe this witness, this last of all, the Lord of hosts, 
the King of kings Himself ? Once more He repeats it, so that 
all may know it. With Peter and James and John, on the 
mount of transfiguration, He cries again, " This is my beloved 
Son; hear Him." And that voice went echoing and re-echo- 
ing through Palestine, through all the earth from sea to sea, 
yes, that voice is echoing still, Hear Him / Hear him I 

My friend, will you hear Him to-day ? Hark ! what is He 
saying to you ? " Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you 
and learn of Me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart ; and ye 
shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my 
burden is light." Will you not think well of such a Saviour ? 
Will you not believe Him ? Will you not trust' in Him with 
all your heart and mind ? Will you not live for Him ? If He 
laid down His life for us, is it not the least we can do to lay 
down ours for Him ? If He bore the Cross and died on it for 
me, ought I not to be willing to take it up for Him ? Oh, have 
we not reason to think well of Him. Do you think it is right 
and noble to lift up your voice against such a Saviour ? Do 
you think it is just to cry, "Crucify Him! crucify Him!" 
Oh, may God help all of us to glorify the Father, by think- 
ing well of His only-begotten Son. 
6 



EXCUSES- 
Part I. 



•And they all with one consent began to make excuse The first said 
unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and 
see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have 
bought five yoke of oxen, and I«go to prove them : I pray thee have 
me excused. And another said^ I have married a wife, and therefore 
I cannot come." — Luke xiv. 18 — 20. 

No sooner does any one begin to preach the Gospel than men 
and women begin " to make excuse." It is the old story. 
There is not an unsaved person here but has got some excuse. 
If I were to go to each of you and ask why you do not accept 
God's invitation to the Gospel feast, you would have an excuse 
ready on the end of your tongue ; and if you had not one 
ready, the devil would be there to help you to make one. And 
if they could be answered he is ready to make new ones. He 
has had six thousand years' experience, and he is very good at 
it ; he can give you as many as you want. 

Do you know the origin of excuses ? You will find it away 
back in Eden. When Adam had sinned, he tried to excuse 
himself. " The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she 
gave me of the tree, and I did eat." He tried to lay the blame 
on God, Eve tried to lay it on the serpent ; and down to the 
present time, men and women, with one consent, begin to make 
excuse. 

Remember that these men Luke tells us about were not 
invited to a funeral, or to hear some dry, stupid lecture or ser- 
mon ; they were not invited to visit an hospital, or a prison, or 
a madhouse ; to witness some terrible scene or execution — 



EXCUSES. 83 

something that would have pained them. It was to go to a 
feast. The Gospel is represented in the Bible as a feast. In 
the evening of this dispensation there is going to be the mar- 
riage supper of God's Son. Blessed is he that shall be at the 
marriage supper of the Lamb. If I know my own heart, I 
would rather be torn limb from limb, or have my heart taken 
from my body this moment, and be present on that glorious 
day, than have the wealth of the world rolled at my feet, and 
miss that wonderful banquet at the marriage of the Lamb. 

Not only was this a feast, but it was a royal feast. If you had 
the honor of an invitation from Queen Victoria of England — 
if the Queen invited you to some great banquet got up in 
honour of her son, there is not a man or woman here but would 
accept the invitation. You would all want it to be put into the 
papers, to show how you had been honoured. But here is 
something worth more than that. Here is an invitation from 
the King of kings, the Lord of lords, God's only Son. By and 
by He will take His bride into the bridal chamber. The mar- 
riage supper of the Lamb is hastening on. He has gone to pre- 
pare new mansions for His bride ; the old mansions are not 
good enough ; and He will come by and by to take her to Him- 
self. It is an invitation to this feast that I bring you. The 
invitations are going out now to every corner of the earth. 
There is not one here who is not invited. For eighteen hun- 
dred years God's messengers have been crossing over valley 
and mountain, over desert and sea, from end to end of the 
earth, inviting men and women to the Gospel feast. What an 
honour for worms of the dust ! When man prepares a feast, 
there is a great rush to see who will get the best place. But 
God prepares His feast, and the chairs would all be empty if 
His disciples did not go out and compel them to come in. 

Then, when man prepares a feast, he invites his friends, those 
who love him ; but God invites His bitterest enemies, those who 
are in rebellion against Him. And yet men make excuse ! No 
sooner is the invitation given by God than the excuses begin to 
rain in. 



84 EXCUSES. 

Did you ever stop to think what would take place if God 
should take, at his word, every one who makes excuse? — if 
He were to say, " Yes, if you want to be excused from this feast, 
I will excuse you," and with the next stroke should sweep them 
all from the face of the earth? Supposing every one in this 
land should be taken at their word, and laid in the arms of 
death, how many of your shops would be closed to-morrow ; 
how many homes would be filled with mourning and tears ? 
Not a bar-tender would be left to carry on his traffic ; every rum- 
seller wants to be excused. He knows that if he accepts of 
this invitation, he would have to give up his hellish trade. He 
could not go on making all those fatherless children, and taking 
the bread out of the mouth of the orphan and the widow, and 
be going on his way to the marriage supper of the Lamb at the 
same time. Every bartender and every drunkard wants to be 
excused. If God did excuse them and take them away with a 
stroke, you would have no drunkards reeling through your 
streets There would be no harlots then, for every harlot warits 
to be excused ; she knows she has to give up her sins if she 
wants to be present at the supper of the Lamb. And your 
princely merchants, many of them, would be gone. They do 
not want to accept the invitation, because they think if they do 
they cannot make money so fast. They are carrying on some 
business which would then have to be stopped, and, with one 
consent, they begin to make excuse. But oh, my friends, it 
would be a solemn time if God should take men at their word. 
The grass would soon be growing in the streets, and the living 
would be occupied in burying the dead. 

Now, be honest with God to-day. God is honest ; He means 
what He says. This is an honest invitation, and He wants us 
to be honest. If you do not want to be at this supper, why not 
say so ? Why make excuses ? They are nothing but lies. Is 
there anyone of you can rise up and give a reasonable excuse — 
if so, tell us what it is — why you don't accept this invitation ? 
Think for a minute. What valid reason can you give ? You 
have none. It is not often we get an invitation to attend a 



EXCUSES. 85 

royal feast, but here comes one to be present at the marriage 
supper of God's only Son. Is it not downright folly for any one 
to refuse ? Just think what you are asking to be excused from. 
From heaven ; from the society of the pure ; from those who 
have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Man asks 
to be excused from the mansions which Christ has prepared ; 
from the society of the angels ; from God the Father, and Christ 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost. All the really great men of the 
world are not down here, they are in heaven. You talk of the 
great men of to-day, but I tell you the best this earth has 
ever had are there, and the best that ever lived will be gathered 
at that feast. For six thousand years they have been gather- 
ing there — all the pure of the earth — Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob. Yes, we shall sit down with the patriarchs and proph- 
ets, and apostles and martyrs, and with the best that have lived 
upon this earth. I would rather die to-night and be sure of 
meeting the bliss of the purified in yon world of light, than 
live for centuries with the wealth of this world at my feet, and 
miss the marriage supper of the Lamb. I have missed many 
appointments in my life, but, by the grace of God, I mean to 
make sure of that one. Why, the blessed privilege of sitting 
down at the marriage supper of the Lamb, to see the King in 
his beauty, to be for ever with the Lord, who would miss it ? 

Let us take up these three men who, "with one consent, 
began to make excuse." 

What did the first one say ? " I have bought a piece of 
ground, and I must needs go and see it." Some one has said, 
Why did he not look at the ground before he bought it ? If he 
had been a good business man, he would have seen his ground 
first, he couldn't make the bargain any better by going to look 
at it now. And now that he has got it, he can go and look at 
it at any time ; the land could not run away ! It was not that 
he had made a partial bargain and might withdraw, or that 
some one might step in ahead of him and get the ground from 
him. He did not even have that excuse. He had bought the 
land, there was no fear that he should lose his title to it. Yet 



&6 EXCUSES. 

he must needs go and see it. Strange time to go and see 
ground just at supper-time ! On the face of it it was a down- 
right lie. He did not want to go to the feast, and so he man- 
ufactured this excuse to ease his conscience. That is what 
people make excuses for. The devil gets men into that cradle 
and rocks them to sleep in it. 

What did the second man say ? " I have bought five yoke 
of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray thee have me 
excused." Why not prove them before he bought them ? It 
was no time to prove oxen after they were bought. And now 
that the bargain was closed he could prove them any time. 
Why not let them stand in the stall till he had accepted this 
invitation ? Don't you see that was another lie ? 

The third man's excuse was the most ridiculous of them all. 
" I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come." Why 
did he not take his wife along with him ? Who likes to go to a 
feast better than a young bride ? He might have asked her to 
go too ; and if she were not willing, then let her stay at home. 
The fact was, he did not want to go. 

Eighteen hundred years have rolled away, and they tell us 
the world has grown wiser ; they say it has improved wonder- 
fully during these years ; but tell me, have men got any better 
excuses ? Young lady ! can you give a better excuse ? Have 
you got an excuse that will stand the light of eternity, have you 
got an excuse that will even satisfy yourself? Men try every 
kind of excuse, but the man does not live who can give a good 
one. Let some terrible disease lay hold of a man, let death 
come and look him in the face, and his excuses are gone in a 
moment. My friends, your excuses will look altogether different 
when you come to stand before the great tribunal of your judge. 

I would just like to take up some of the popular excuses of 
the present day. There is one very common one, " I do not 
like this minister or that preacher." Well, what has that to do 
with it ? What have you to do with the messenger ? Suppose 
a boy comes ^nd gives me a despatch, some good news from 
my wife. I don't turn round to see who brings it. He maj 



EXCUSES. 87 

be black or white, that is nothing to me. It is the message I 
care for. Is it not the fact that God invites you to a feast ? 
What are you looking at the messenger for ? I have heard this 
excuse till I am tired, " I don't like this minister or that minis- 
ter, this person or that one who calls himself a Christian." 
Never mind about the messenger. The question is, are you 
willing to receive the message from God ? Do you believe the 
Word of God is true, and that God invites you to this feast ? 
Do you believe that the invitation is to " every creature " in 
the world ? t You have nothing to do with the preacher who 
brings the message. If the message is from God, I ask you, 
why not accept it ? If you are going to wait until you find 
some perfect man or woman to bring you the invitation, you 
will never accept it. There was never but one perfect Man. 
You will find a good many flaws in our character, a good many 
things you may not like in the followers of Christ, but I chal- 
lenge you to find a flaw in the character of our Master. He 
bids you come. And any one who accepts the invitation He 
will receive. 

Another excuse. Only the other night, a lady came to me 
in the inquiry-room and said, " There are so many things in the 
Bible I cannot understand. " No doubt about that. God says, 
the carnal man cannot understand spiritual things, and the Bible 
is a spiritual book. How can the unregenerate heart under- 
stand the Bible ? Well, you say, if it is a sealed book, how am 
I going to be saved ? Well, when God put salvation before the 
world, He put that very plain. The word of God may be dark- 
ened to the natural man, but the way of salvation is written so 
plain, that the little child of six years old can understand it if 
she will. Take this passage and see if you do not under- 
stand it : — " The Spirit and the Bride say, Come ; and let 
him that heareth say, " Come ; and let him that is athirst 
come." Arc not many of you thirsty? God says come. 
"And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely/ 
Then you know what it is to take a gift ? God puts sal- 
vation before you as a gift. " He came unto His own, and 



88 EXCUSES. 

His own received Him not ; but as many as received Him, to 
them gave He power to become the sons of God." You can 
understand that ? " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou 
shalt be saved." You know what it is to believe? At any rate 
you know what it is to trust, to commit your soul to the Lord 
Jesus Christ — that is all. There are dark and mysterious 
things in the Bible now, but when you begin to trust Christ 
your eyes will be opened, and the Bible will be a new book to 
you. Many things that are dark and mysterious to-day, to- 
morrow will have a new beauty. It will become the Book of 
books to you. To-day Christ may be a root out of a dry ground, 
without form or comeliness ; but He will become to you the 
chiefest among ten thousand, the altogether lovely, the bright, 
and the morning star, if you take Him as your Saviour. Then 
you will understand the Bible. 

No book in the world has been so misjudged as the Bible. 
Men judge it without reading it. Or perhaps they read a bit 
here and a bit there, and then close it saying, " It is so dark 
and mysterious ! " You take a book now-a-days, and read it. 
Some one asks you what you think about it. " Well," you say, 
" I have only read it through once, not very carefully, and I 
should not like to give an opinion." Yet people take up God's 
book, read a few pages, and condemn the whole of it. Of all 
the sceptics and infidels I have ever met speaking against the 
Bible, I have never met one who read it through. There may 
be such men, but I have never met them. It is simply an ex- 
cuse. There is no man living who will stand up before God 
and say that kept him out of the kingdom. It is the devil's 
work trying to make us believe it is not true, and that it is dark 
and mysterious. The only way to overcome the great enemy 
of souls is by the written Word of God. He knows that, and 
so tries to make men disbelieve it. As soon as a man is a true 
believer in the Word of God, he is a conqueror over Satan. 
Young man ! the Bible is true. What have these infidels to 
give you in its place ? What has so exalted us as the open 
Bible ? Every nation that exalteth the Word of God is exalted, 



EXCUSES. 89 

and every nation that casteth it down is cast down. Oh, let us 
cling close to the Bible. Of course, we shall not understand 
it all at once. But men are not to condemn it on that account. 
Suppose I should send my little boy, five years old, to school 
to-morrow morning, and when he came home in the afternoon 
I say to him, " Willie, can you read ? can you write ? can you 
spell ? Do you understand all about algebra, geometry, Hebrew, 
Latin, and Greek ? " " Why, papa," the little fellow would say, 
" how funny you talk ; I have been all day trying to learn the 
ABC!" Well, suppose I should reply, " If you have not fin- 
ished your education, you need not go any more." What 
would you say ? Why, you would say, I had gone mad. There 
would be just about as much reason in that, as in the way that 
people talk about the Bible. My friends, the men who have 
studied the Bible for fifty years — the wise men and the schol- 
ars, the great theologians — have never got down to the depths 
of it yet. There are truths there that the Church of God has 
been searching out for the last eighteen hundred years, but no 
man has fathomed the depths of that ever-living stream. 

There is another class here, who say, " That's not my diffi- 
culty. I believe the Word of God. But if I could speak alone 
to you, I would tell you my excuse. The fact is, I love the 
world very much, and if I become a Christian, I shall have 
to give up all pleasure and go through the world with a long 
face and never smile again. My joy will be forever gone!" 
Well, I want to say here, that no greater lie was ever forged 
than that. The devil started it away back in Eden ; but there 
is not one word of truth in it ; it is a libel upon Christianity. 
It does not make a man gloomy to become a child of God. 
See ! there is a man going to execution. In a few moments he 
will be launched into eternity. But, flashing over the wires, 
comes word from the Governor He sends a reprieve. I 
run in haste to the man. I shout, " Good news ! good news ! 
You are not to die ! " Does that make him gloomy ? No ! no ! 
no ! Young men, young women, old and young, don't believe 
Satan's lies any longer. It is the want of Christ that makes 



9 o EXCUSES. 

men gloomy. Take a man who is really thirsty, dying for want 
of water, and you go and give him water. Is that going to 
make him gloomy? That is what Christ is — water to the 
thirsty soul. If a man is dying for want of bread, and you give 
him bread, is that to make him gloomy ? That is what Christ 
is to the soul — the bread of life. You will never have true 
pleasure or peace or joy or comfort until you have found Christ. 

The idea that a man cannot have peace and joy in this world, 
if he is a Christian, is all folly. That used to be my difficulty. 
But I want to tell you I had more joy and solid comfort and 
peace the first year after I was converted, than. I had all my 
previous life put together, and I never heard of any young con- 
vert who would not testify the same thing. 

Another excuse — how thick they are ! The air is full of 
them. I hear some one say, " Well, I should like to be a Chris- 
tian, but it is a very hard thing. I have tried it a good many 
times. I would not like to speak right out, but that is just the 
honest truth." I will tell you what you have been doing, you 
have been trying to serve God with the old carnal mind. You 
might as well try to walk to the moon ! It is utterly impossi- 
ble. The Ethiopian cannot change his skin ; the leopard can- 
not change its spots. It is impossible to serve God with the 
old carnal heart ; but with the new heart God' will give you the 
power, and you will not then be talking about its being hard to 
serve Him. That is just another lie. Let us look at it. Do 
you mean to say that God is a hard Master ? Do you say it is 
a hard thing to serve God, and do you say that Satan is an easy 
master, and that it is easier to serve him than God ? Is it hon- 
est — is it true ? God a hard master ! If I read my Bible 
right, I read that the way of the transgressor is hard. Let me 
tell you it is the devil who is the hard master. Yes. " The 
way of the transgressor is hard." The Word of God cannot be 
changed. If you doubt it, young man, look at the convict in 
the prison, right in the bloom of manhood, right in the prime 
of life. He has been there for ten years, and must remain for 
ten years more — twenty years taken out of his life, and when 



EXCUSES. 91 

he comes out of that miserable cell, he comes out a branded 
felon ! Do you think that man will tell you " The way of the 
transgressor has been easy ? " Go ask the poor drunkard, the 
man who is bound hand and foot, the slave of the infernal cup, 
who is hastening onwards to a drunkard's hell. Ask him if he 
has found the way of the transgressor easy. "Easy ? " he will 
cry — "Easy ? " " The way of the transgressor is hard, and gets 
harder and harder every day 7 " Go ask the libertine and the 
worldling ; go ask the gambler and blasphemer — with one voice 
they will tell you, that the service has been hard. Take the 
most faithful follower of the devil and put him upon this plat- 
form to-night, and let us put questions to him. The best way 
to settle this question is to find out by the testimony of those 
that have served both masters. I do not think a man has any 
right to judge until he has served both. If I heard a man con- 
demn a master, I should be very apt to ask him if he had served 
him ; and if he had not, he could not very well testify. Now, 
if you have served two masters then you are very good judges. 
I want to stand here to-night as a witness for Christ. I have 
been in this school for twenty years, and I want to testify 
to-night that I have found him an easy master. I used to say, 
as you do, " It is a hard thing to be a Christian," and I thought 
it was ; but now I tell you that the yoke is easy and the bur- 
den light. And I am speaking to many more to-night who have 
served both masters. Many of you have served Christ ; and 
many of you before you were brought into His fold, served the 
devil. I would like to ask you, you that are Christ's, you who 
have served Him — some five, some ten, some twenty years — 
is Jesus a hard master ? (" No ! No ! ") I thought you would 
say No. I knew you would. I never heard a man say, "I 
have served Christ for five years, or for ten, and found him a 
hard master." And now let me put you into the witness-box 
again. For many years you served Satan, some of you are serv- 
ing him still, " Do you not find him a hard master." (" Yes! 
Yes ! ") Oh yes ! my friends, you cannot help admitting it, you 
know it is true, the way of the transgressor is hard. 



9? EXCUSES. 

Suppose we could go beyond this life ; suppose we could go 
down to the bottomless pit and summon up Judas, who has 
been there for the last eighteen hundred years. Suppose we 
put the question to him, "Judas, you betrayed the Son of God, 
sold Him for thirty pieces of silver. You have served the 
devil faithfully ; have you found his service an easy one ? " 
What a wail would rise from these lips ! Do you think Judas 
found it easy ? Do you think he found Satan a kind master ? 
See him throwing down the thirty pieces of silver ! Why, he 
got so tired of the deviFs service that he hanged himself twenty- 
four hours after publicly entering it. 

Now let us call upon Paul who, you may say, took the place 
that Judas once filled ; let him come down from the hill-tops 
of glory. Do you think he would say it was a hard thing to 
serve God, and an easy thing to serve the devil ? " I served 
the devil well," he says, " I breathed out threatenings, I perse- 
cuted the Church. But // was hard for me to kick against the 
pricks" 

And now let us see what God says about it. I would like to 
ask those who think Him a hard master, what they would do 
with a passage like this, " Come unto Me, all ye that labour 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke 
upon you and learn of Me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart, 
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and 
my burden is light ? " Yes, it is an easy thing to serve any one 
we love. If you love a person how you delight to please them. 

Oh, my friends, do not dishonour God by calling Him a hard 
master. Speak to the young disciple of the Lord Jesus. Look 
at his very face. See how his eye is lit up with a light from 
heaven ; how the glow from Calvary is shed around his path. 
Let him tell of the peace and the joy he has found in the ser- 
vice of Christ. Let him tell, till language fails him, how the 
way grows lighter and lighter as he journeys on, how his hopes 
grow brighter and brighter as he nears his eternal home. Oh 
yes, there is a vast difference in the yoke of Satan and the yoke 
of Christ. The yoke of the Christian is easy and light ; the 



EXCUSES. 93 

yoke of the devil is heavy and hard. I beg of you do not lis- 
ten to Satan's lies. He has deceived the whole human race. 
Oh, will you not just change masters to-night, and accept of 
the invitation to be present at the marriage supper of the 
Lamb? 



EXCUSES. 
Part II. 



The next excuse I want to take up is "election." I meet a 
great many in the inquiry-room who tell me they are very anx- 
ious to be saved, but they do not know if they are elected. 
" If I were only sure that I were elected," they say, " I would 
soon be in earnest about salvation. But then I don't know that 
I'm one of the elect, so I have a very good excuse." Now I 
want to give no uncertain sound upon this point. I want to 
say that an unconverted person has nothing whatever to do 
with the doctrine of election. After you have become children 
of God, then we can talk about election — then we can talk 
about how sweet and beautiful the doctrine is. But those who 
are not God's children have nothing at all to do with it. You 
do not like any one to read your private letters, do you ? Well, 
the doctrine of election was written, in a private letter, to the 
children of God. No wonder the world puzzles over it. No 
wonder they cannot understand it. It was never meant for 
them. What they have to do with is the " Whosoever " and 
the " Him that cometh," of the free invitations of Christ. 

Suppose I am taking a walk near this hall to-night, and say 
to the policeman at the door, " Who is invited to this meeting ? " 
** Those who have tickets," he replies. I have no ticket, so it 
is not for me. I walk on further, and come to another meeting. 

"This is only for those who belong to the Society," I 

am told, so I know it is not for me. I go on further, and come 
to a large public building — a club. " Only members admitted," 



EXCUSES. 95 

I read at the door. It is not for me either. I go further still 
and come to another building, and over the door this is writ- 
ten : " Whosoever will, let him come in." Ah ! it is for me this 
time. Whosoever — that means me — and in I go. My friends, 
God puts it just like that. All are invited to come to Christ. 
What have you to do with Paul's epistle about election ? Why, 
you have nothing to do with it — not till you become a Christ- 
ian. You have no business with the private letters of other 
people, and the " whosoever M comes before election. If you 
learn to read, you commence with the alphabet, don't you ? 
You don't learn to read all at once. And if you come to Christ 
you must come in God's way ; and then you can talk about 
how you came. 

Yes, but, you say, there is another side to that. Christ said, 
" No man can come to Me except the Father, which hath sent 
Me, draw him." Well, I say Christ is drawing men. "I, if I 
be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." He is drawing men, 
but they will not come. God was in Christ reconciling the 
world unto Himself, and drawing men unto Him. That draw- 
ing is going on now, but many a heart is fighting against the 
strivings of the Spirit. God is drawing men heavenward, and 
the devil is drawing them hellward. 

Supposing a man, wishing to go to Boston, should say, " I 
don't know if God has decreed it. If I am to be there, I will 
be there. Anyhow, it is no use my taking the train. What is 
the use of my paying the fare and taking trouble about it ? If 
I am elected to get there, I will get there somehow." Who 
would use such language as that ? Or suppose a farmer were 
to say, " I am not going to plant ; if God has decreed that I 
am to have a crop, I shall have it. I am not going to trouble 
myself tilling the ground or working hard ; if God has decreed 
that I will have a good harvest, why, I shall have it without any 
tilling." Or suppose you are sick, and do not send for the 
doctor. Suppose you say,-" If God has decreed it, I shall get 
well," so you refuse to take the medicines. You say, " There 
is no use in it ; if God has decreed that I am to get well, I will 



96 EXCUSES. 

get well without it." Whoever talks in that way ? Yet a good 
many people carry out that very doctrine with regard, to spir- 
itual things. 

I have an idea that the Lord Jesus saw how men were going 
to stumble over this doctrine, so after He had been thirty or 
forty years in heaven, He came down and spoke to John. One 
Lord's day in Patmos, He said to him, " Write these things to 
the churches." John kept on writing. His pen flew very fast. 
And then the Lord, when it was nearly finished, said, " John, 
before you close the book, put this in : * The Spirit and the 
Bride say, Come ; and let him that heareth say, Come.' But 
there will be some that are deaf, and they cannot hear, so add, 
* Let him that is athirst, Come ; ' and in case there should be 
any that do not thirst, put it still broader, * Whosoever will, let 
him take of the water of life freely.' " What more can you 
have than that ? And the Book is sealed, as it were, with that. 
It is the last invitation in the Bible. " Whosoever will, let him 
take of the water of life freely." You are thirsty. You want 
water. I hold out this glass to you, and say, " Take it." You 
say, " If I am decreed to have it, I am not going to put myself 
to the trouble of taking it." Well, you will never get it. And 
if you are ever to have salvation, you must reach out the hand 
and take it. " I will take the cup of Salvation, and call upon 
the name of the Lord." Will you take it to-night ? It is sim- 
ple enough ; it is a gift. " The wages of sin is death ; but the 
gift of God is eternal life." My dear friends, do not stumble 
over the doctrine of election any longer. You will not be able 
to stand up before God and say, " I did not accept the invita- 
tion because I was not one of the elect." That excuse will 
fade away in his presence. God invites every man and woman 
to the gospel feast when He writes, " Whosoever will, let him 
take.' 

I can imagine there is a man down there who says, " That is 
not my difficulty. I know a man who belongs to the professing 
Church of Christ, and he cheated me out of ten dollars some 
years ago. There are hypocrites in the Church, and I am not 



EXCUSES. 97 

going to have anything to do with it. No ! you don't catch me 
going into company with hypocrites." 

Well, I will find you two hypocrites in the world for every 
one you will find in the Church. Besides, I am not asking you 
to come to the Church — not but that I believe in churches — 
but I am asking you to the marriage supper of the Lamb. 
Come to Christ first, and then we can talk to you about the 
Church. There always have been hypocrites in the Church and 
always will be. One of the twelve apostles turned out to be a 
hypocrite, and there will be hypocrites in the Church to the end 
of time. But there will not.be one hypocrite at this feast, and 
if you want to get out of the company of hypocrites you had 
better make haste and come to Christ. If you do not accept 
the invitation you will have to spend eternity with them. Sup- 
pose every one here were a black-hearted hypocrite, what has 
that to do with you ? " Follow thou me," says Christ. You 
are not to be looking to John, or Peter, or Paul, this man or 
that, but straight to Christ. You may find many flaws in our 
characters, but you will find none in Christ's. We find a good 
many in ourselves, and you may too. But we do not ask you 
to follow us, but Christ. There will be no hypocrites at the 
marriage supper of the Lamb ; they will all be in the lost 
world. And if you do not accept the invitation you will have 
to spend eternity with hypocrites. So if you really object to 
them, you had better make sure of a place at the marriage sup- 
per of the Lamb. 

But there is a self-righteous Pharisee here who says, " Well, 
I don't understand all this talk about conversion ; I'm good 
enough as I am. My excuse will stand, if the others won't. 
I am not going into that inquiry-room to talk with these peo- 
ple, and beg them to pray for me; I don't need it." And he 
draws his filthy rags of self-righteousness about him and thinks 
he is pure in the sight of God and man. My friend, the Word 
of God says, " There is none righteous, no, not one." If you 
are found with your own garment on, you will be cast out from 
this feast. He will furnish you with a robe of spotless white 
7 - 



98 EXCUSES. 

if you will accept it, but you need not think you can stand in 
the presence of the King with these miserable rags of self- 
righteousness about you. Oh, may the Holy Spirit show you 
how vile you are in the sight of a holy God. The nearer a 
man gets to God, the more he abhors himself. Vou know when 
a man is getting near to God, he begins to loathe himself. 
Like Job, he says, " I abhor myself." Like Isaiah, when he 
saw the holy God, he cries out, " Woe is me, I am undone." 
Like that holy man Daniel, his comeliness is turned to corrup- 
tion. May God strip you of your self-righteousness to-day ! 

But here is another excuse. If the devil cannot make a man 
believe he is good enough without being saved, then he will 
tell him he is so bad the Lord will have nothing to do with him. 
A great many in the inquiry-room have that excuse. " I would 
like to be saved," they say, "but I am too bad." That is 
another lie. Why, what does the Scripture say ? " Christ died 
for the ungodly." Jesus Christ came into the world to save 
sinners. What did Christ say to his disciples ? " Go ye into 
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." u That 
repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his 
name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" The very 
men whose hands were dripping with the blood of the Son of 
God, had salvation offered to them ! Paul said he was the 
chief of sinners, and if he was saved, surely there is hope for 
every man on the face of the earth. If you are so bad, you 
are the very one He wants to save. During our war, I remem- 
ber the doctor used to go after a battle to look at the wounded 
men, and he would find out the most desperate cases and 
attend to them first. That is the way the great Physician does 
now. He saves the worst men He can get. I know a great 
many people who are anxious to come, but they are waiting 
until they grow a little better. They think God will not take 
them till then. 

Now, notice, my friends, the Lord invites you to come just 
as you are, and if you could make yourself better you would 
not be any more acceptable to Him. Do not put these filthy 



EXCUSES, 99 

rags of self-righteousness about you. God will strip every rag 
from you when you come to Him, and clothe you with glorious 
garments. When our war was going on, we would sometimes 
go to the recruiting office and see a man come in with a silk 
hat, broadcloth coat, calfskin boots — his suit might be worth 
$100 ; and another man would come in whose clothes were 
not worth 5 dollars ; but they both had to strip and put on the 
uniform of the country. And so when we go into Christ's 
vineyard we must put on the livery of heaven and be stripped 
of every rag. So, however bad you are, come just as you are, 
and the Lord will receive you. 

I have read of an artist who wanted to paint a picture of the 
Prodigal Son. He searched through the madhouses, and the 
poorhouses, and the prisons, to find a man wretched enough to 
represent the prodigal, but he could not find one. One day he 
.was walking down the streets and met a man whom he thought 
would do. He told the poor beggar he would pay him well if 
he came to his room and sat for his portrait. The beggar 
agreed, and the day was appointed for him to come. The day 
came, and a man put in his appearance at the artist's room. 
"You made an appointment with me," he said, when he was 
shown into the studio. The artist looked at him, " I never saw 
you before," he said; "you cannot have an appointment with 
me." "Yes," he said, " I agreed to meet you to-day at ten 
o'clock." " You must be mistaken; it -must have been some 
other artist; I was to see a beggar here at this hour." "Well," 
says the beggar, " I am he." " You ? " " Yes/' " Why, what 
have you been doing ? " " Well, I thought I would dress 
myself up a bit before I got painted." " Then," said the artist, 
" I do not want you; I wanted you as you were j now, you are 
no use to me." That is the way Christ wants every poor sin- 
ner, just as he is. I think I can hear some one say, " Oh, but 
my heart is so hard." Well, that is just the very reason you 
ought to come. If you had not a hard heart you would not 
need a Saviour. Do you think you can soften your heart ? 
Can you break your heart? Did not God invite the hard- 



ioo EXCUSES. 

hearted ? Did not Christ come to seek and to save that 
which was lost? It is just because men's hearts are hard 
that they need a Saviour. So that is no excuse at all. God 
invites you, and you cannot stand up and say to the Great 
King you did not accept the invitation because you had a 
hard heart. He invites "whosoever," and you can come along 
with your hard heart just as it is. 

A well known a minister was talking to a man in the inquiry- 
room. " My heart is so hard, it seems as if it was chained, 
and I cannot come," said the inquirer. The minister said to 
him, " Come along, chain and all ; " and he just came to Christ, 
hard-hearted, chain and all, and Christ snapped the fetters, and 
set him free just there. If you are bound hands and feet by 
Satan, it is the work of God to break the fetters ; you cannot 
break them. But, thank God, He can snap the fetters of every 
sin-bound soul to-night, and set each captive free. 

Then comes another excuse. " I should like to come, but 
somehow or other I do not know that I feel just right." That 
is a very common excuse, — Feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling ! I 
have heard that cry till I am sick of it. Suppose a friend in- 
vites me to dinner to-day, and I say, "Well, I would like very 
much to take dinner with you. There is no man I would rather 
dine with than yourself; but I do not know that I feel just 
right." "Are you sick?" he might ask. " No, I never felt 
. better in my life." "Well, what do you mean? " "I don't 
know that I feel just right. I do not know that I will be in a 
right state of mind. " "I do not understand you," he would 
say. " What do you mean ? " " Well, I would like to go very 
much, but I don't feel right." And that is the way men are 
talking now. " I would like to go to heaven, but I don't know 
that I have got the right kind of feeling." But, my friends, if 
you really want to, God invites you, and that is all about it. 
My friend urges me to come, but I keep on saying, " I do not 
know that I am in the right state of mind." " Why," he would 
say, " I think Mr. Moody must have gone out of his mind. I 
invited him to dinner, and instead of giving me a plain answer 



EXCUSES. 101 

he kept talking about feeling all the time ! " You may smile at 
it, but that is just the way people talk in the inquiry-room — 
hundreds of them. My friends, does God invite you ? If He 
does, why don't you accept the invitation ? If you want to 
come, just come along, and don't be talking about feeling. Do 
you think Lazarus had any feeling when Christ called him out 
of the sepulchre ? 

My friends, God is above feeling. Do you think you can 
control your feelings ? I am sure if I could control my feel- 
ings, I never would have any bad feelings ; I would always 
have good feelings. But bear in mind Satan may change 
our feelings fifty times a day, but he cannot change the Word 
of God ; and what we want is to build our hopes of heaven 
upon the Word of God. When a poor sinner is coming 
up out of the pit, and just ready to get his feet upon the 
Rock of Ages, the devil sticks out a plank of feeling, and 
says, " Get on that," and when he puts his feet on that, down 
he goes again. Take one of these texts — " Verily I say unto 
you, he that heareth My word and believeth on Him that sent 
Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemna- 
tion, but is passed from death unto life." My friend, that is worth 
more than all the feeling that you can have in a whole lifetime. 
I would a thousand times rather stand on that verse than all 
the frames and feelings I ever had. I took my stand there 
twenty years ago. Since then the dark waves of hell have 
come dashing up against me ; the waves of persecution have 
broken all around me ; doubts, fears, and unbelief in turn have 
assailed me ; but I have been able to stand firm on this short 
word of God. It is a sure footing for eternity. It was true 
1800 years ago, and it is true to-night. That rock is higher 
than my feeling. And what we need is to get our feet upon 
the rock, and the Lord will put a new song in our. mouths. 

But 1 hear some one in the gallery say, " He has not touched 
my case at all. None of these things ever trouble me ; but the 
fact is, / cannot believe, I would like to come, but I cannot 
believe." Not long ago a man said to me, " I cannot believe." 



io2 EXCUSES. 

" Whom ? " I asked. He stammered and said again, " I cannot 
believe." I said " Whom ? " " Well/' he said, " I can't believe." 
" Whom ? " I asked again. At last he said, " I cannot believe 
myself." "Well, you don't need to. You do not need to put 
any confidence in yourself. The less you believe in yourself 
the better. But if you tell me you can't believe God, that is 
another thing ; and I would like to ask you why ! " If a man 
says to me, " I have a great respect for you ; I have a great 
admiration for you ; but I do not believe a word you say," I 
say to myself, " I certainly do not think much of your admira- 
tion." But that is the way a good many people talk about God. 
They say, " I have a profound reverence for God ; the very 
name of God strikes awe to my heart ; but I do not believe 
Him." Why don't you be honest and say at once you won't 
believe ? There is no real reason why men cannot believe God. 
I challenge any infidel on the face of the earth to put his finger 
on one promise God has ever made that He has not kept. The 
idea of a man standing up in the afternoon of the nineteenth 
century and saying he cannot believe God! My friend you 
have no reason for not believing Him. If you say you 
cannot believe man there would be some reason in that, 
because men very often say what is not true. But God 
never makes any mistakes. " Has he said it and shall He 
not make it good ? " Believe in God and say as Job says : 
" Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him ! " Some men 
talk as if it were a great misfortune that they do not believe. 
They seem to look upon it as a kind of infirmity, and think 
they ought to be sympathized with and pitied. But bear in 
mind that it is the most damning sin of the world. " When 
He, the Holy Ghost is come, He will reprove the world of sin, 
and of righteousness, and of judgment ; of sin, because they 
believe not on Me." That is the sin of the world — " because they 
believe not on me." That is the very root of sin ; and the fruit is 
bad, for the tree is bad. May God open our eyes to see that He 
is true, and may we all be led to put our fullest trust in Christ. 
But you say, " I do not know what it is to believe" That is 



EXCUSES. 103 

another excuse. Well, let me put it differently. Suppose I 
say trust Him — just take Him at his word. Believe that He 
really invites you — that He wants you to come. If you do not 
know what it is to believe, will you not just trust God ? 

But here is another one who says, I would like to come very 
much, but I am afraid I would not hold out." Now, I have had 
a rule for a number of years that has been a great help to me — 
never to cross a mountain until you come to it. You trust 
Christ to save you to-night. The devil throws a little straw 
across your path, and then tries to magnify it and makes you 
think it is a great mountain. Never mind the mountains ; trust 
Him to-night to save you. If He can save you to-night, He can 
keep you to-morrow. When you have sat down at the banquet 
and had one good feast — when you have had one interview 
with Christ, you will not want to leave Him. I accepted this 
invitation twenty years ago, and I have never wanted to go back. 
I have not had to keep myself all these years. I would have 
been back in twenty-four hours if I had. But thank God, we do 
not have to keep ourselves. The Lord is my Keeper — my 
Shepherd, I shall not want. He keeps us. It takes the same 
grace to keep us that it does to save us. And God has told us 
that " My grace is sufficient for you/' 

But some people are not at all afraid of falling away. They 
are sure that God is quite able to save them, and quite strong 
enough to keep them. But when you ask them if they are 
Christians, they say, " Well, you know, I would like to be, but 1 
have no time" If I were to go to the door to-night, and take 
you by the hand and say, " My friend, why not accept of the 
invitation to-night ? " some of you would say, " Please just ex- 
cuse me to-night. I have really no time. I have got some 
very pressing business to attend to to-morrow morning, and I 
have to go home as fast as possible to get my night's rest. You 
must really excuse me." And the mothers would say, "We 
have to run home and put the children to bed ; you must excuse 
us for this time." So thousands and thousands say they have 
no time to be religious. But, my friends, what have you done 



104 EXCUSES. 

with all the time that God has given you ? What have you been 
doing all these months and years that have rolled away since 
He gave you birth ? Is it true you have no time ? What did 
you do with the 365 days of last year ? Had you no time dur- 
ing all these twelve months to seek the Kingdom of God ? You 
spend twenty years getting an education to enable you to earn 
a living for this poor frail body, so soon to be eaten up of 
worms. You spend seven or eight years in learning a trade, that 
you may earn your daily bread ; and yet you have not Jive min- 
utes to accept of this invitation of Christ's ! My friend, bear in 
mind you have yet to find time to die ; to stand in the presence 
of the Judge. And when he calls you to stand before that bar, 
will you dare to tell Him that you had no time to prepare for 
the marriage supper of his Son ? You have no time ? Take 
time ! Let everything else be laid aside until you have ac- 
cepted of this invitation ? Do you not know that it is a lie ? 
If you have not time, take it. " Seek first the Kingdom of 
God." Let the children sit up a little late to-night. Let your 
business be suspended to-morrow. Suppose you do not get so 
much money to-morrow. What matter it if you get Christ ? " 
Better for a man to be sure of salvation than to " gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul." 

But you say " I would like to become a Christian, but / have 
a prejudice against these special meetings, and against Evangelists, 
and against a layman too. If it was a regular ministry, and it 
was our regular minister, I would accept the invitation." If 
that is your difficulty, I can help you out of it. You can just 
get right up, and go out of the hall, and walk straight over to 
your minister, and have a talk with him. And if you say you 
don't want to*be converted in a special meeting, there are reg- 
ular meetings in all the churches throughout the town, and your 
minister would be heartily glad to talk with you about your 
soul. But if you say, " There is a great awakening in this 
city, and I do not like to be converted in the time of a 
revival," you can step into a train, and go to some town where 
there is no revival. We can find you some place where there 



EXCUSES. 105 

is no revival, and some church where there is not much of the 
revival spirit, without very much difficulty. If you really want 
to go, pray don't give that for an excuse. How wise the devil 
is! When the church is cold, and everything is dead, men 
say, " Oh, well, if there was only some life in the church I 
might become a Christian ; if we could only just have a wave 
of blessing from heaven, it would be so easy then." Then 
when the wave does come they say, " Oh, no, we are afraid of 
excitement, and afraid of these special meetings. We are 
afraid something will be done that won't be just in accordance 
with our ideas of propriety." Oh, my friends, do not listen to 
these subtle lies. Just come as you are to Christ, and accept 
the offer which He makes you now. 

I wish I had time to go on with these excuses, but they are 
as numerous as the hairs of my head. And if I could go on, 
and tried to exhaust them all, the devil would just help you to 
make more. The best thing you can do is to tie them all into 
one bundle, and stamp them as a pack of lies ; not a single one 
of them is true. And God will sweep them all away some day 
if you do not do it now. It is a very solemn thought that God 
will excuse you if you want to be excused. He does not wish 
to do it, but He will do it. " As I live, saith the Lord, I have 
no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; but that the wicked 
turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil 
ways ; for why will ye die, O house of Israel." Look at the 
Jewish nation. They wanted to be excused from the feast. 
They despised the grace of God and trampled it under foot, 
and look at them to-day ! Yes, it is easy enough to say, " I 
pray Thee have me excused," but by-and-by God may take you 
at your word, and say, "Yes, I will excuse you." And in that 
lost world, while others who have accepted the invitation sit 
down to the marriage supper of the Lamb amid shouts and 
hallelujahs in heaven, you will be crying in the company of the 
lost, " The harvest is past ; the summer is ended, and we are 
not saved." 

And remember, it is the King of kings, the Lord of glory 



io6 EXCUSES. 

who invites you to this feast. Come just as you are, and accept 
the invitation. Let the plough stand in the furrow until you 
have accepted it. Let the shop be closed till then ; let busi- 
ness be suspended until you have accepted it. Let the land 
rest ; yes, let the ox stand in the stall, until you have accepted 
that invitation. Make sure, whatever you do, that you will not 
be missing from the marriage supper of the Lamb. That 
sainted mother of yours will be there. Tha.t little child who 
died a few months ago will be there. Young lady ! do you 
want to be excused ? He will excuse you. Do you want to 
be excused, young man ? He will excuse you. You may make 
light of it to-night, if you choose. " Oh no," you say, " I never 
do that ; whatever I have been guilty of, I have never done 
that ! " Have you not ? Suppose I get an invitation to din- 
ner to-morrow ; I take it and tear it up ; I do not answer it ; I 
pay no attention to it. Is not that making light of it ? How 
many of you will go away to-night paying no attention to this 
invitation ? Every one who goes home in a careless spirit, 
won't he be making light of it? The Lord has invited you to 
the gospel feast. Are you going to spend this evening in 
accepting or in making light of the invitation ? God does not 
want you to die ; He wants you to accept this invitation and 
live. If you have a good excuse, one that will stand the light 
of eternity, hold on to it. Do not give it up for anything. 
Take it down with you into the grave. Hold it firm, take it to 
the bar of God, and tell it out to Him. But if you have got 
one that won't stand the test of eternity, give it up. If you 
have an excuse that will not stand the piercing eye of God, I beg 
of you as a friend, give it up to-night. Let it go to the four 
winds of heaven, and accept the invitation to be at the mar- 
riage supper of the Lamb. Do not let the laughing, scoffing, 
mocking world laugh your soul into eternal death. Do as the 
pilgrim, whom John Bunyan describes, who started out from 
the Citv of Destruction, crying, " Life, life, eternal life ! " Set 
your face like a flint towards that blessed land and say, " By 
the grace of God, I will be at the marriage supper of the Lamb." 



EXCUSES. 107 

Supposing we should write out here to-night this excuse. 
How would it sound ? " To the King of Heaven. While sitting 

in the Hall, city of , July — , 1880, / received a 

very pressing invitation from one of your servants to be present at 
the marriage supper of your only-begotten Son. I pray Thee 
have me excused." Would you sign that, young man ? Would 
you, mother ? Would you come up to the reporter's table, take 
up a pen and put your name down to such an excuse ? You 
would say, " Let my right hand forget its cunning, and my 
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I sign that." I doubt 
if there is one here who would sign it. Will yor then pay no 
attention to God's invitation? I beg of you do not make light 
of it. It is a loving God inviting you to a feast, and God is 
not to be mocked. Go play with the forked lightning, go trifle 
with pestilence and disease, but trifle not with God. 

Just let me write out another answer. "To the King of 

Heaven. While sitting in the Hall, July — , 1880. 1 

received a pressing invitation from one of your messengers to be 
present at tlie marriage supper of your only-begotten Son. I 
hasten to reply, By the grace of God I will be present." 
Who will sign that ? Is there one who will put his name to 
it ? Is there no one who will say, " By the grace of God I will 
accept the invitation now ? " May God bring you to a decision 
just now. If you would ever see the kingdom of God, you must 
decide this question one way or the other. What will you do 
with the invitation ? I bring it to you in the name of my 
Master; will you accept or reject it? Be wise to-night, and 
accept the invitation. Make up your mind you will not go 
away till the question of eternity is settled. May God bring 
hundreds to a decision to-night is the prayer of my heart. 



THE BLOOD. 
Part I. — The Old Testament. 



"'It is the Blood that maketh an atonement for the 
Soul." — Lev. xvii. ii. 

Every man should be able to give a reason for the hope that 
is in him ; and I do not believe the man lives who can give a 
reason for his hope beyond the grave, who is a stranger to the 
Blood. I am often told that I make the plan of salvation too 
easy, and that it is folly to say that men can be saved by trust- 
ing simply to the atoning blood of Christ. Now I do not wish 
any one to believe what I say, if it is not according to Scrip- 
ture ; and the best way is just to turn up the Bible and see what 
the Word of God says about it. 

The first portion of Scripture I would call your attention to 
is from the very first book of the Bible. If you turn to Gene- 
sis iii, 2i, you find, "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the 
Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them." In this 
verse we get the first glimpse of the blood. Certainly God 
could not have clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of beasts 
unless he had shed blood. And to me it is a very sweet 
thought that sin was covered before Adam was driven out of 
Eden — that God dealt in grace with him % before He dealt in 
judgment. It may be that this was a type, away back in Eden, 
of Christ the coming One, of the Sacrifice to be slain ; 'and 
Adam might have said to his wife, " Well, even though God has 
driven us out of Eden He loves us, and this coat is a token of 
His love." Some one has said God put a lamp of promise into 



THE BLOOD, 109 

his hand before He drove him out. "The seed of the woman 
shall bruise the head of the serpent." Did you ever think what 
a terrible state of things it would be if man in his lost and 
ruined state were allowed to live for ever ? It was from love 
to Adam that God drove him out of Eden, that he should not 
live for ever. God put the cherubim there with the flaming 
sword. But now Christ has come and taken the sword into his 
own bosom, and opened wide the gates, so that man can come 
in and eat. Adam might have been in Eden ten thousand 
years and then be led astray by Satan ; but now " our life is 
hid with Christ in God." Yes, man is safer with the second 
Adam out of Eden than with the first Adam in Eden. 

Then let us turn to Gen. iv. 4 : " And Abel, he also brought 
of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the 
Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering ; but unto Cain 
and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very 
wroth and his countenance fell." Now here, were two boys 
who were born and brought up outside of Eden. They were 
children of the same parents, and brought up under precisely 
similar circumstances and under the same influences, and there 
is no account of any difference between these two boys until 
they go to offer sacrifice. Abel brings the blood, and is ac- 
cepted ; Cain comes in his own way, and is rejected. Undoubt- 
edly, when our first parents fell, God marked out the way by 
which man might come to Him ; Abel walked in God's way, 
but Cain in his own. You may have wondered why Cain's offer- 
ing was not just as acceptable to Him as Abel's ; but one took 
God's way and the other took his own. Perhaps Cain said he 
could not bear the sight of blood, and took that which God had 
cursed, and laid it on the altar. Perhaps he said to himself, " I 
shall certainly not bring a bleeding lamb. I don't like that 
doctrine at all. Here is the grain and the beautiful fruit which 
I have raised by my industry, and I'm sure it looks better than 
blood." And there are a great many Cainites in the church 
to-day. They are trying to get into heaven their own way. 
They bring their own good deeds to God. They prefer what ifc 



no THE BLOOD. 

agreeable to the eye, as Cain did his beautiful corn and fruit ; 
but they do not like the doctrine of the Blood of the Atone- 
ment. From the time Adam left Eden there have been Abelites 
and Cainites. The Abelites come by way of the blood — the 
Cainites come in a way of their own. They wish to get rid of 
the doctrine of the blood. But be assured that any religion 
which makes light of the blood is of the devil. No matter how 
eloquent a man is, if he preaches against the blood he is doing 
the devil's work. Do not listen to him. Do not believe him. 
If an angel from heaven should preach any other gospel I would 
not believe it. " Christ died for our sins," — that is the gospel 
that Paul preached, and Peter preached, and that God has 
always honoured in the salvation of men's souls. 

The next glimpse we get of the blood is in Gen. viii. 20. 
" And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord ; and took of every 
clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings 
on the altar." We have passed out of the first dispensation 
and now have come to the second ; and the very first thing 
Noah does, is to put blood between him and his sins. The 
second dispensation is founded upon blood. Thus Noah 
walked by the highway of the blood ; for this the animals were 
taken through the flood; and all God's people have been walk- 
ing that way since, for it is the blood that atones for sin. 

Would you turn to Gen. xxii. 13. "And Abraham lifted up 
his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in 
a thicket by his horns. And Abraham, went and took the ram 
and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son." 
God loved Abraham so much that He spared his son, but he 
so loved the world that He did not spare his own Son, but 
delivered Him up for us all. Now we are told that Abraham 
saw Christ's day and was glad. I do not know when he saw it, 
but I have an idea that it was from this very place that God 
drew back the curtain of time and showed him Christ as the 
Bearer of sin. Just look at that scene. There is the altar, 
built at the command of Jehovah. God had told him to take 
his son, his only son whom he loved, and bind and slay him. 



THE BLOOD. m 

He has bound the boy ; everything is ready, and now he takes 
the knife to slay his son. He does not know what it means, but 
God said it and he obeys. I wish we had men like Abraham, 
now-a-days, willing to obey God in the dark, not asking the 
reason why. I can see him put his arms round his boy as he 
takes him to his bosom and weeps over him. I can hear him 
telling him the secret he had hidden from him so long. What 
a scene ! What a struggle it must have been ! Now he is 
ready to plunge the knife into the heart of his son. But hark ! 
there comes a voice from heaven, " Abraham ! Abraham ! 
spare thy son." Ah ! there was no voice at Calvary, no cry 
from heaven then, "Spare thy Son." He gave him up freely 
for us all, the Innocent for the guilty, the Just for the unjust. 
Turn now to Exodus xii. — one of the most important chap- 
ters in the Old Testament. At the thirteenth verse we read, 
" And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses 
where ye are ; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, 
and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you." God 
did not say, " When I see your good deeds — how you have 
prayed, and wept, and groaned, I will pass over you," but 
11 when I see the blood" It was not their good resolutions, their 
tears, their prayers, their works, their faith, that saved those 
men in Egypt ; it was the blood. What were they to do to be 
saved ? They were to put the blood on the door-posts and 
lintel. They were not to put it on the threshold. God would 
not have them trample upon the blood. But that is what the 
world is doing to-day. Men say it is not the death of Christ ; 
it is his life. But God did not say, " Take a white, spotless 
lamb, and put it there at the front of the door, and when I see 
the lamb I will pass over you." Had an Israelite done that, 
the angel of death would have passed by the lamb ; would have 
entered that house ; would have laid his cold hand on the eldest 
born. A live lamb could not have kept death out that night ; 
he would have fallen a victim like the Egyptian. Very likely, 
when some of the lords and dukes and great men rode through 
Goshen, and saw the Israelites sprinkling their dwellings, they 



ii2 THE BLOOD. 

said they never saw such foolishness. Very likely they thought 
they were just spoiling their houses. Every house had blood 
on it. No Egyptian could understand it. But on that memo- 
rable night when death entered every house from the palace of 
the king to the hovel of the poor, when the wail of sorrow went 
up from that stricken land, it was the blood that kept him from 
the homes of Goshen. Yes, it is the blood that must cover our 
sins. I beg of you, do not let the world move you on this 
point. Let it go on mocking, and laughing, and making light 
of the precious blood of the Son of God. It is our only ref- 
uge, our only hope. We cannot cover sin by any good deeds 
of our own. It is a very common saying, " If I were only as 
good as that man who has "preached the gospel for fifty years, 
or that mother in Israel who has visited the sick and been so 
kind to the poor, I would feel safe for heaven." But I want to 
say if you are sheltered behind the blood of the Son of God, 
you are as safe as any saint that ever walked this earth. It is 
not a long life of good deeds that is going to save us. It is 
not our Christian usefulness that will ever commend us to God. 
Certainly we must work for Christ ; certainly it will be better 
for you in the future if you do. But that is not salvation. 
Certainly you must follow Christ ; certainly you must imitate 
His pure and holy life. I would go further, and say it is an 
absolute necessity you should do so ; but the life of Christ may 
be preached for ever, and if His death be left out, it will never 
save a soul. People say you must work, work, work, in order 
to get salvation. Ten thousand times no ! You get it as a 
gift; " Whosoever will, let him take." You can work as much 
as you like after you have taken it. " Work out your own salva- 
tion." Yes, but that was spoken to Christians, people who had 
taken it. So we must first take it, and then we can work it out. 
We take salvation as a gift and then begin to work because we 
cannot help it. All work done before that must go for nothing. 
When the angel of death swept through the land that night, 
the good and the bad were destroyed together. Into every 
house where the blood was not sprinkled, the destroying angel 



THE BLOOD. 113 

came. But wherever the blood was on door-post and lintel, 
whether they had worked much, or whether they had worked 
none, God passed them over. 

The little child in the humblest tent was just as safe as Moses 
or Aaron, as Joshua or Caleb, as safe as any in the land. God 
did not say, "When I see your gilded palace, or your beautiful 
home ; when I see your goodness, your life of service, or your 
faith/' but, " when I see the blood, it shall be a token." Not 
for their own sakes, but for Christ's, did He pass them by that 
night. Some one has said, that the little fly in Noah's ark was 
just as safe as the great elephant. It was the ark that saved 
them both. So Christ saves the weak disciple just as well 
as the strong one. 

When you go to a railway station you find all classes of peo- 
ple wishing to travel. They have their tickets and take their 
places in the cars. When the conductor comes to ask for the 
tickets, he does not look to see what or who you are. You may 
be rich or poor, learned or unlearned, this or that ; he looks for 
the tickets, and if you have your ticket you pass. The ticket is 
the token. So if you are sheltered behind the blood of Christ, 
you may be very ignorant or poor in this world, but you are as 
safe as the wisest or wealthiest. 

A great many people are wondering why they are so weak ; 
why they fall so often when temptation comes, why so little 
spiritual power is given them. I think you will find a lesson 
in that same chapter, in the nth verse : "Thus shall ye eat it; 
with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff 
in your hand ; and ye shall eat it in haste ; it is the Lord's 
Passover." They were not only to kill the lamb and take the 
blood and sprinkle it on the door-posts, but they were to eat of 
it. That is the way to get spiritual strength. The reason why 
we are such sickly Christians, is because we do not feed on the 
Lamb. We have a wilderness journey before us as the children 
of Israel had, and if we do not feed upon Christ we must starve 
by the way. We have not only to look to the blood for safety, 
but we must feed on Christ *for strength. How much the soul 
8 



ii4 THE BLOOD. 

needs to be fed ! Day by day our souls must be fed with the 
heavenly manna. The Lord has given Him up for us ; He calls 
Himself the Bread of Life. Feeding upon Christ is feeding on 
his Word. There is no book that will feed the soul but the 
Bible. If I feed on the Word of God, I get sp iritual strength 
and power. Some people think if they get one glimpseat Christ 
it is enough. We must live by faith as well as be saved by faith. 
The just shall live by faith. Each day we must gather the 
manna afresh. A good many people seem to be living on stale 
manna — manna that they got months or years ago when they 
were converted. We should no more think of laying in spirit- 
ual food to last for ten years than we should of bodily food. 

In verse 2 we read, " This month shall be unto you the begin- 
ning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you." 
For 400 years they had been serving the king of the Egyptians, 
but God would not let them count those years. They must 
make a fresh start, as it were. So all the years that we spend 
in the service of the devil go for nought. Life never really 
begins until we have been sprinkled with the blood of Christ. 
Everything dates from the blood, and even the Jew has to own 
that the death upon the cross was the beginning of days. 

Turn now to Exodus xxix, 16 : "And thou shalt slay the ram, 
and thou shalt take his blood and sprinkle it round about upon 
the altar." I used to read these words and these books of the 
Old Testament, wondering what they meant. They were to take 
the blood and sprinkle it " round about upon the altar." Now 
I think I understand it. It teaches that there is no way of 
approaching God without coming by the blood. It has been 
so in all ages. Even Aaron, the high priest, had to take blood 
and sprinkle it round about upon the altar, before he could 
have an interview with God — teaching us the great lesson that 
approach to God never has been, never will be, never can be, 
except through the blood of the Lamb. 

We have the same thing brought before us again in the 
thirtieth verse of the tenth chapter. "And Aaron shall make 
an atonement upon the horns of the altar, once in a year> with 



THE BLOOD 115 

the blood of the sin-offering of atonements ; once in the year 
shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations; 
it is most holy unto the Lord." Atonement means at-one-ment ; 
the blood of Christ makes the sinner and God at one. Before 
Adam fell God had bound him to the throne with a golden 
chain, which was broken by the fall. But Christ came down 
and linked man back to God again. At-one-ment — that is what 
the blood of Christ does, makes atonement. We talk about sins 
being forgiven ; they are forgiven, but no sin ever committed in 
this world was forgiven without being punished. They were 
punished in Christ ; He made expiation — " Who His own self 
bare our sins in His own body on the tree." Think what it cost 
Christ to make expiation. Think what it cost God when He 
had to give up his only-begotten Son, to give Him up to die ! 

Turn for a moment to Leviticus viii, 23 : "And he slew it, 
and Moses took of the blood of it and put it upon the tip of 
Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and 
upon the great toe of his right foot." That is another verse I 
used to stumble over. What did it mean ? blood on the ear, 
blood on the hand, blood on the foot ? I think I understand 
it now. Blood on the ear — without it man cannot hear the voice 
of God. No uncircumcised ear can hear his voice. Men heard 
the voice of God and they said it thundered ; they' did not 
know the difference. But when the blood is applied, men know 
the voice of God — we know that it is the voice of our loving 
Father in heaven. 

Blood on the hand — that a man may work for God. Those 
men that think they are working for God, and yet ignore the 
blood, are deceiving their own souls. One day they will wake 
up to find that their labour is in vain. Salvation is " to him that 
worketh not but believeth." No man can work his way into the 
kingdom of God. They said to Christ, " What shall we do that 
we may work the works of God ? " Perhaps these men had 
got their pockets full of money, and were ready and willing to 
build churches. " This is the work of God," said Christ, "that 
ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." No man or woman 



ji6 THE BLOOD. 

can do anything to please God until they have believed on his 
Son. 

Suppose I say to my boy, " Willie, I want you to go out and 
get me a glass of water." He says he doesn't want to go. " I 
didn't ask you whether you wanted to go or not, Willie ; I told 
you to go. "But I don't want to go," he says. " I tell you, 
you must go and get me a glass of water." He does not like 
to go. But he knows I am very fond of grapes, and he is very 
fond of them himself, so he goes out, and some one gives him a 
beautiful cluster of grapes. He comes in and says, " Here t 
papa, here is a beautiful cluster of grapes for you." " But 
what about the water ? " a Won't the grapes be acceptable, 
papa ? " " No, my boy, the grapes are not acceptable ; I won't 
take them; I want you to get me a glass of water." The little 
fellow doesn't want to get the water, but he goes out, and this 
time some one gives him an orange. He brings it in and 
places it before me. " Is that acceptable ? " he asks. " No, 
no, no ! " I say ; " I want nothing but water ; you cannot do 
anything to please me until you get the water." And so, my 
friends, to please God you must first obey Him ; and the first 
thing He asks us to do is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
" Without faith it is impossible to please Him." He has given 
us an unspeakable Gift — the son of His bosom — and if we 
reject that Son, and refuse to follow Him, do you think any- 
thing else we can do can please Him ? 

Blood upon the foot — to walk with God. God never walked 
with the Israelites until the blood was sprinkled in Goshen. 
Then nothing could stand before them. When they came to 
the Red Sea, it fled at their approach. In the wilderness He 
opened his hand and gave them manna to eat. When they 
came to Jordan they walked dryshod through the bed of the 
river, because the Almighty God was walking beside them. 
Yes, it was a blood-bought people that God brought into 
Canaan, the promised land. And God will walk with every 
blood-washed sinner, and no man shall stand before Him. 

I can imagine some of you saying, " I do not understand yet 



THE BLOOD, 117 

why God demands blood." A person said to me, " I hate your 
God ; your God demands blood. I don't believe in such a God 
— my God is merciful to all; I do not know your God." But 
if you will turn to Lev. xvii. 11, you will find why God demands 
blood. " For the life of the flesh is in the blood ; and I have 
given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your 
souls ; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the 
soul." 

Now, suppose Queen Victoria did not like any man to be 
deprived of his liberty, and threw all her prisons open, and was 
so merciful that she could not bear any one to suffer for guilt, 
how long would she hold the sceptre ? How long would she 
rule this empire ? Not twenty-four hours. Those very men 
who cry out about God being merciful would say, " We don't 
want such a Queen." Well, God is merciful, but He is not 
going to take an unpardoned sinner into heaven. 

God demands blood, because He said to Adam, " In the day 
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Then sin came 
into the world, and brought death in. God's word must be 
kept. How could God do this and spare the sinner ? How 
could God be just, and justify the ungodly ? Man has sinned^ 
and man must die. But what if some one should die instead 
of him ? His own life has been forfeited — the wages of sin 
is death — but what if some one should buy it back for him, 
should redeem him ? What if one should come forward and 
lay down his own life a ransom for many — one who had no sins 
of his own to condemn him to death ? Glory to God in the 
highest ; " God so loved the world, that He gave his only- 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." Glory to God in the 
highest ! He sent his Son, born of a woman, to take our nature 
and die in our stead, tasting death for every man. Glory to 
God in the highest ! " the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleans- 
eth us from all sin." If you read your Bibles carefully, you 
will see the scarlet thread running right through every page of 
them. The blood commences to flow in Genesis, and runs on 



u8 THE BLOOD. 

to Revelation. That is what God's book is written for. Take 
out the scarlet thread, and it would not be worth carrying 
home. 

Three times in this chapter it is repeated, that the life of the 
flesh is in the blood. And when God demands blood, in other 
words, He demands life. It has been forfeited. We have sinned, 
and come short of the glory of God. I must die for my sins, 
or find some substitute to die in my stead. I cannot get this 
man or that man to die for me, because they have sinned them- 
selves, and have to die for their own sins. But Christ was 
without sin, and therefore He could be my substitute. Here 
comes in the glorious doctrine of substitution. Christ died for 
our sins, for mine; and because He died for me, I love Him. 
Because He died for me I will serve Him. I will work for Him ; 
I will give Him my very life. He robbed death of its sting, 
and the grave of its victory. Oh ! is it not the least we can do 
to give our poor lives to Him ? 

When the Californian gold fever broke out, a man went there, 
leaving his wife in New England with his boy. As soon as he 
got on and was successful he was to send for them. It was a 
long time before he succeeded, but at last he got money enough 
to send for them. The wife's heart leaped for joy. She took 
her boy to New York, got onboard a Pacific steamer, and sailed 
away to San Francisco. They had not been long at sea before 
the cry of " Fire ! fire ! " rang through the ship, and rapidly it 
gained on them. There was a powder magazine on board, and 
the captain knew the moment the fire reached the powder, 
every man, woman, and child must perish. They got out the 
life -boats, but they were too small ! In a minute they were 
overcrowded. The last one was just pushing away, when the 
mother pleaded with them to take her and her boy. " No," they 
said, "we have got as many as we can hold." She entreated 
them so earnestly, that at last they said they would take one 
more. Do you think she leaped into that boat and left her boy 
to die ? No ! She seized her boy, gave him one last hug, 
kissed him, and dropped him over into the boat. " My boy," 



THE BLOOD. 119 

she said, " if you live to see your father, tell him that I died in 
your place." That is a faint type of what Christ has done for 
us. He laid down His life for us, He died that we might live. 
Now will you not love Him ? What would you say of that 
young man if he should speak contemptuously of such a 
mother ? She went down to a watery grave to save her son. 
Well, shall we speak contemptuously of such a Saviour ? Oh, 
may God make us loyal to Christ ! My friends, you will need 
Him one day. You will need Him when you come to cross the 
swellings of Jordan. You will need Him when you stand at 
the bar of God. May God forbid that when death draws nigh 
it should find you making light of the precious blood of Christ ! 



THE BLOOD. 

Part II. — The New Testament. 



* Without shedding of blood is no remission." — Heb. ix, 22. 

We have seen what the Old Testament says about the blood ; 
now let us turn to the New. 

In 1 Pet. Ti. 18, we read: "Forasmuch as ye know that ye 
were not redeemed with corruptible^ things, as silver and gold, 
from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your 
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb with- 
out blemish and without spot." Silver and gold could not 
redeem our souls. As I have tried to show, life had been for- 
feited. Death had come into the world by sin, and nothing 
but blood could atone for the soul. Therefore, says Peter, 
"you are not redeemed with silver and gold." If gold and sil- 
ver could have redeemed us, do you not think that God would 
have- created millions of worlds full of gold ? It would have 
been an easy matter for Him. But we are not redeemed by 
such corruptible things, but by the precious blood of Christ. 
Redemption means " buying back ; " we had sold ourselves for 
nought, and Christ redeemed us and brought us back. 

A friend in Ireland once met a little Irish boy who had 
caught a sparrow. The poor little bird was trembling in his 
hand, and seemed very anxious to escape. The gentleman 
begged the boy to let it go, as the ]pird could not do him any 
good ; but the boy said he would not, for he had chased it three 
hours before he could catch it. He tried to reason it out with 



THE BLOOD. i2i 

the boy, but in vain. At last he offered to buy the bird ; the 
boy agreed to the price, and it was paid. Then the gentleman 
took the poor little thing and held it out on his hand. The 
boy had been holding it very fast, for the boy was stronger than 
the bird, just as Satan is stronger than we, and there it sat for 
a time scarcely able to realize the fact that it had got liberty ; 
but, in a little, it flew away chirping, as if to say to the gentle- 
man, " Thank you ! thank you ! you have redeemed me." 
That is what redemption is — buying back and setting free. So 
Christ came to break the fetters of sin, to open the prison doors 
and set the sinner free. This is the good news, the Gospel of 
Christ — " Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver 
and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. ,, 

" How can I be saved to-night," do you ask ? Accept of the 
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, and rest on His finished work. 
When Christ on Calvary said, " It is finished," it was the shout 
of the Conqueror. He had come to redeem the world, and now 
He had done it — done it without money ! And His cry to the 
world comes ringing down the ages to-day — " Ho, every one 
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; yea, come, buy wine and 
milk without money and without price" 

A few years ago, I was going away to preach one Sunday 
morning, when a young man drove up in front of us. He had 
an aged woman with him. " Who is that young man ? " I asked. 
" Do you see that beautiful meadow ? " said my friend, " and 
that land there with the house upon it ? " " Yes." " His father 
drank that all up," he said. Then he went on to tell me all 
about him. His father was a great drunkard, squandered his 
property, died, and left his wife in the poor-house. "And that 
young man," he said, "is one of the finest young men I ever 
knew. He has toiled hard and earned money, and bought back 
the land ; he has taken his mother out of the poor-house, and 
now he is taking her to church." I thought, that is an illustra- 
tion for me. The first Adam, in Eden, sold us for nought, but 
the Messiah, the Second Adam, came and bought us back again. 
The first Adam brought us to the poor-house, as it were; the 



122 THE BLOOD. 

Second Adam makes us kings and priests unto God. That is 
redemption* We get in Christ all that Adam lost, and more. 
Men look on the blood of Christ with scorn and contempt, but 
the time is coming when the blood of Christ will be worth more 
than all the kingdoms of the world. Suppose you were going 
down to death's gate to-night, going down to the brink of the 
Jordan, without any hope in Christ. Suppose you were a mil- 
lionnaire, what would your millions be worth then ? The blood 
of Christ would be worth more to you than all the silver and 
gold of the world. 

The blood has two cries : it cries either for my condemnation 
or if you will allow me to use a stronger word, for my damna- 
tion ; or it cries for my salvation. If I reject the blood of 
Christ, it cries out for my condemnation ; if I accept it, it cries 
out for pardon and peace. The blood of Abel cried out against 
his brother Cain. So it was in the days of Christ. When 
Pilate had Christ on his hands, he said to the Jews, " What shall 
I do with Him ? " They cried out, " Away with Him ! crucify 
Him ! " And when he asked which one he should release, 
Barabbas or Christ, they cried out, " Barabbas ! " Then when 
he asked again, " What shall i then do with Him ? " a univer- 
sal shout went up from Jerusalem, " Let Him be crucified ! 
Away with Him! We do not want ,Him." Pilate turned and 
washed his hands, and said, " I am innocent of this just Man's 
blood," and they cried, " His blood be on us and on our chil- 
dren ; We shall take the responsibility of it ; we shall endorse the 
act ; you crucify Him, and let His blood be on us and on our 
children. " Would to God that there might be a cry going up, 
" Let His blood be on us to save, not to condemn." 

Turn now to Col. i. 20 : " Having made peace through the 
blood of His cross." I can tell you there is no peace in the 
world. There are many rich men, many great men in the 
world, who have got no peace. No ; I have never seen a man 
who knew what peace was until he got it at Calvary. 

" Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans v. 1). Sin covered — that 



THE BLOOD. 123 

brings peace. There is no peace for the wicked ; they are like 
the troubled sea that cannot rest. Calvary is the place to find 
peace — peace for the past and grace for the present. But 
there is something better still. " And rejoice in hope of the 
glory of God." Some people think that when they get to 
Calvary they have got the best, but there is something better in 
store — glory. I do not know how near it may be to us ; it 
may be that some of us will be ushered very soon into the pres- 
ence of the King. One gaze at Him will be enough to reward 
us for all we have had to bear. Yes, there is peace for the 
past, grace for the present, and glory for the future. These 
are three things that every child of God ought to have. When 
the angels came bringing the gospel, they proclaimed, " Glory 
to God, peace on earth, and good will towards men." That is 
what the blood brings — sin covered and taken away, peace for 
the past, grace for the present, and glory for the future. 

Would you now turn to John xix. 34 : " But one of the sol- 
diers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there- 
out blood and water. You know that in Zechariah it was fore- 
told that there should be opened in the house of David a foun- 
tain for sin and for uncleanness. And now we have it opened. 
The Son of God has been pierced by that Roman soldier's 
spear. It seems to me that that was the crowning act of earth 
and hell — the crowning act of sin. Look at that Roman sol- 
dier as he pushed his spear into the very heart of the God-man. 
What a hellish deed ! But what was the next thing that took 
place ? Blood covered the spear ! Oh ! thank God, the blood 
covers sin. There was the blood covering that spear — the 
very point of it. The very crowning act of sin brought out 
the crowning act of love ; the crowning act of wickedness was 
the crowning act of- grace. 

A usurper has got this world now ; but Christ will have it 
soon. The time of your redemption draweth nigh. A little 
more suffering, and He returns to set up His kingdom and reign 
upon the earth. He will rend the heavens, and His voice will 
be heard again. He shall descend from heaven with a shout. 



i2 4 THE BLOOD. 

He will sway His sceptre from the river to the ends of the 
earth. The thorn and the brier shall be swept away and the 
wilderness shall rejoice. Let us rejoice ; we shall see better 
days ; the dreary darkness and sin that sweep along our earth 
shall be done away with. These dark waves of death £nd hell 
shall be beaten back. "Oh, let us pray to the Lord to hasten 
his coming, that the Son of God may not tarry. 

Would you now turn to Rom. iii. 24 : " Being justified freely 
by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." 
What God does He does freely, because He loves to do it. 
Mark these words, " Through the redemption that is in Christ 
Jesus." Then in the fifth chapter, ninth verse, we read, " Much 
more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved 
from wrath through Him." The sinner is justified with God 
by His matchless grace through the blood of His Son. Justified, 
that means, as just as if he had never committed sin. What a 
wonderful thing ; not one sin against him ! It is as if he owed 
some one a debt, and when he went to pay it, was told " There 
is nothing against you; it is all settled." "Why," he would 
say, " how is that ? I got some things from you not long ago, 
and I want to pay the bill." " There is nothing against you." 
"But I am sure I got something here." "There is nothing 
against you in my ledger ; some one else has come and paid 
it." That is substitution. Now I know who paid my spiritual 
debts. It was the Lord Jesus Christ. And God looks at His 
ledger and there is nothing against us. Christ was raised up 
for our justification. It is a good deal better to be justified 
than pardoned. Suppose I was arrested for stealing $e,ooo, 
tried and found guilty, but suppose the judge had mercy on me 
and pardoned me. I would come out of prison, but it would 
be with my head down. I had been found guilty, I could never 
face the world again. But suppose I was accused of stealing 
it, but it could not be proven, and when the case came on, it 
was found I had not done anything of the kind ; then I would 
be justified. It would make all the difference in the world. 
Now God justifies us by the blood of His Son This is what 



THE BLOOD. 125 

the blood does — sin covered, put out of the way, and nothing 
against us. Is not that good news ? 

Rev. i. 5 : " Unto Him that loved us and washed us from 
our sins in His own blood. " There are a great many people who 
wish to be saved, but who think they cannot be saved until 
they get a little better. I met a young man in the inquiry- 
room last night who was anxious to be saved, but he thought 
he could not be, because he was not good enough. If you are 
going to wait till you get rid of your sins, you will never be 
saved. You cannot get rid of one sin. Instead of getting 
better you will get worse. But thanks be to God, He loves us 
even in our sins, even before He saves us from our sins. "He 
hath loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." 
Loved us first, then washed us. But if we attempt to wash our- 
selves we will make wretched work of it. The blood will cover 
it all up if we only trust ourselves to Christ. Who shall lay 
anything to the charge of God's elect ? If He has justified me 
it is enough. Why do we like to sing that old hymn — 

11 There is a fountain filled with blood 
Drawn from Immanuel's veins?" 

Why will it live as long as the church lives on earth? Why 
will it never die ? Why do you hear it sung all over Christen- 
dom. I remember how it used to thrill my soul even before I 
was converted. I could not tell why. Thank God, every sin 
is lost in that fountain. You will find that all these hymns 
with the scarlet thread in them will live. There is that grand 

old hymn : 

" Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in Thee ; 
Let the water and the blood, 
From Thy riven side that flowed, 
Be of sin the double cure, 
Cleanse me from its guilt and power." 

That speaks of the crucified Christ ; it will never get worn 
out. Then there is — 

44 Just as I am, without one plea, 
But that Thy blood was shed for me, 
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, 
O Lamb of God, 1 come." 



126 THE BLOOD. 

That is another hymn that will live ; you never tire of it. It 
will be sung on and on, as long as the church is on earth. I 
tell you why these hymns are so precious ; it is because they 
tell us about the blood. 

Look at Matt. xxvi. 28 ; it is Christ's own testimony, " For 
this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many 
for the remission of sins." Look at this verse, " I declare unto 
you the gospel, how that Christ died for our sins according to 
the Scriptures." Look at Heb. ix. 22, " And without shedding 
of blood is no remission." I would like to ask those men 
who do not believe in the blood, " What are you going to do with 
your sins ? " Would you insult the Almighty by offering Him the 
fruit of your body to atone for them ? Can a man atone for sin ? 
If there is a scoffer here, a man who makes light of the blood, I 
want to know what he is going to do ? When I was in one of 
your cities, a gentleman came to me and said, lt If you are right, 
I am wrong; and if I am right, you are wrong." I saw he was 
a minister, and I said, " Well, I never heard you preach ; if 
you have heard me you can tell what the difference is. Where 
do we differ ! " " Well, you preach that it is the death of 
Christ ; I preach His life. I tell people His death has nothing 
to do with it ; you tell them His life has nothing to do with their 
salvation, and that His death only will save them. I do not 
believe a word of it." " Well," I said, " what do you do with 
this passage, ' Who His own self bare our sins in His own body 
on the tree ? * " " Well, I never preached on that text. " " What 
do you do with this then, ' Ye are not redeemed with cor- 
ruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood 
of Christ'" "I never preached on that text either," was the 
reply. " Well, what do you do with this, ' Without shedding of 
blood there is no remission ? ' " "I never spoke on that," he 
said. "What do you do with this, * He was wounded for our 
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, and the chas- 
tisement of our peace was upon Him? ' " "I never preached 
on that either." What do you preach, then ? " I asked. He 
hesitated for a little, and then said, " I preach moral essays." 



THE BLOOD, 127 

" You leave out the atonement ! " " Yes." " Well," I said, 
<l it would all be a sham to me if I did that ; I could not under- 
stand it. I would be away home to-morrow. I would not 
know what to preach. Moral essays on Christ without His 
death ! " The young man said, " Well, it does seem a sham 
sometimes." He was honest enough to confess that. Why, 
the whole thing is a myth without the at-one-ment. The cruci- 
fixion of Christ is the foundation of the whole matter. If a 
man is unsound on the blood, he is unsound in everything. 
"Without shedding of blood is no remission." 

Turn now to Heb. x. 11. Hebrews is full of the blood. 
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering often- 
times the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But 
this man" — what man? — the man Christ Jesus, " after He 
had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right 
hand of God." One sacrifice for sins for ever ! He has of- 
fered as a sacrifice Himself. You need no lambs now, no bul- 
locks now. The High Priest has offered Himself. The high 
priest of old could not take his seat ; his work was never done. 
But our High Priest went up on high, and took his seat on the 
right hand of the Father's throne; the work was done. " It is 
finished," He said. All those types and shadows are fulfilled 
in Him, and now they have vanished away. 

Look at Mark xiv. 24 : " This is my blood of the new testa- 
ment which is shed for many." These are Christ's own words. 
Take that in connection with the passage I read from Hebrews, 
"Without shedding of blood is no remission." I believe if a 
man could get to heaven without the blood of Christ, he would 
not be happy there. Jle could not join in the great song that 
is sung around the throne ; he could not sing the song of Moses 
and the Lamb ; he could not say he was redeemed by the blood 
of the Lamb. You would see him away in some corner ; he 
would be out of tune with the rest ; he would not be in har- 
mony with them, and he would not wish to stay there. But he 
could not get there. The only way is by the new and living 
way that Christ has opened. 



128 THE BLOOD. 

Turn back again for a minute to Heb. x. 19 : " Having, there- 
fore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood 
of Jesus, by a new and living way which he has consecrated for 
us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh." Those Jews, 
before Christ died, had to have the high priest intercede for 
them. He used to go in once a year into the holy of holies 
with blood to make intercession ; but since Christ, our great 
High Priest, came, we do not need any Aaron to intercede for 
us. When Christ died, He opened a new and living way. He 
made us all kings and priests. It is said that the veil that was rent 
was His flesh. When He cried on the cross, " It is finished," 
the veil of the temple was rent in twain. God seized it with 
His right hand and tore it away. No veil between God and 
man now ! We need no bishop, no pope, no priest to intercede 
for us now. Christ has died, yea, is risen again. Yes, we are 
all kings and priests now ; we can go straight to the holy of 
holies ourselves. We need no man to intercede for our souls. 
The moment a man is saved by the blood, he becomes a king 
and a priest. God calls him "My son." He is an heir of 
heaven and of glory. He is redeemed by the blood, he is made 
nigh by the blood. He gets victory over the world, the flesh, 
and the devil, by the blood. 

There is a very solemn verse in Heb. x. 28 : " He that de- 
spised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three wit- 
nesses ; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be 
thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, 
and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was 
sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the 
spirit of grace ? " If a man despised Moses* law, they led him 
out and stoned him to death. Sinner, let me ask you, what are 
you going to do with the blood of God's only Son ? I tell you 
it is a terrible thing to make light of the blood, to laugh and 
ridicule the doctrine of the blood. I would rather fall dead on 
this platform than do such a thing. It makes my heart shud- 
der when I hear men speak lightly of it. Some time ago a 
very solemn thought came stealing over me, and made a deep 



THE BLOOD. 129 

impression on my mind. The only thing that Christ left cf His 
body on the earth was His blood. His flesh and bones He 
took away. But when He went up on high, He left His blood 
down here. What are you going to do with the blood ? Are 
you going to make light of this blood, to trample on it ? May 
God give us all a glimpse of Christ crucified to-night. 

Look at the book of Revelation ; you will find the blood spo- 
ken of again and again. " They overcame by the blood of the 
Lamb and the word of their testimony." That is the only way 
to overcome the devil, the lion of hell — by the blood of the 
Lamb. He knows that the moment a poor sinner flees to the 
blood he is beyond his reach*. 

As I have travelled up and down Christendom I have found 
out that a minister who gives a clear sound upon this doctrine is 
successful. A man who covers up the cross, though he may be 
an intellectual man, and draw large crowds, will have no life 
there, and his church will be but a gilded sepulchre. Those 
men who preach the doctrine of the cross, and hold up Christ 
as the sinner's only hope of heaven, and as the sinner's only 
substitute, who make much of the blood, God honours, and 
souls are always saved in the church where the blood of Christ 
is preached. May God help us to make much of the blood of 
His Son. It cost God so much to give us His Son, and shall 
we try to keep Him from the world which is perishing from the 
want of Him ? , The world can get along without us, but not 
without Christ. Let us preach Christ in season and out of sea- 
son. Let us go to the sick and dying, and hold up the Saviour 
who came to seek and save them — who died to redeem them. 
44 They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of 
their testimony." 

Once more, in Revelation vii. 14 : " These are they which 
came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Sinner, how are 
you going to get your robes clean if you do not get them washed 
in the blood of the Lamb ? How are you going to wash them ? 
Can you make them clean ? I pray that at least we mav all get 

9 



i 3 o THE BLOOD. 

back to the paradise above. There they are singing the >weet 
song of redemption. May it be the happy lot of each of us to 
join them. It will be a few years at the longest before we shall 
be there to sing the sweet song of Moses and the Lamb. But 
if you die without Christ, without hope, and without God, where 
will you be ? O sinner, be wise ; do not make light of the blood. 
An aged minister of the gospel, on his dying bed, said, u Bring 
me the Bible." Putting his finger upon the verse, " The blood 
of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin," he said, " I 
die in the hope of this verse." It was not his fifty years' preach- 
ing, but the blood of Christ. May God grant that when we 
come at last to stand before the great white throne, our robes 
may be washed in the cleansing blood of Christ ! 



HEAVEN. 

Part I. 



Some time ago, on my way to a meeting, a friend asked what 
was to be my subject. I told him I thought I would preach 
about Heaven. He seemed much disappointed, and replied 
that he was in hopes I should talk about something practical, 
and that there would be time enough to talk about heaven when 
we got there. 

Now, I think if God did not want us to know anything about 
heaven, He would not have written so much about it. And if 
heaven is to be our future home, we should try to learn all we 
can about it, so that we may be living more for it. If we were 
about to emigrate to a distant land, we should never tire hear- 
ing about it. We should wish to know all about its people, its 
climate and resources, its schools and institutions, its advan- 
tages for children, and its prospects for business. There would 
be nothing relating to the country that would not interest us. 
And when we are going to spend eternity in another world, can 
we know or hear too much about it ? 

Christians are often asked why they address their prayers 
upwards, as if God's dwelling-place were any more above than 
around them. But I think it is right to locate heaven, and to 
locate it above. In the twenty-sixth chapter of Deuteronomy 
we read, " Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, 
and bless thy people Israel." Look a\?wn from heaven. Then 
in Genesis we are told that God " went up " from talking with 



i 3 2 HEAVEN. 

Abraham — went up. And Christ himself, the only One who 
# can really tell us about heaven, for He has been there, what 
does He say? In the third chapter of John you find the 
words, " No man hath ascended up to heaven but He that came 
down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven." 
In the seventh chapter of Mark, again we are told that, " look- 
ing up to heaven, He sighed." And when His work was over 
here, and He was just returning to the many mansions of His 
Father's house, standing in the midst of the loved ones for 
whom He was going to prepare a place, " Behold, He was 
taken up> and a cloud received Him out of their sight." 

Heaven is the dwelling-place of God. This, after all, is the 
great point. It matters little how far away it is. God is there, 
and that is enough. And we may be sure that it is not so far 
away but that He can hear the humblest sigh of prayer or 
watch the gathering tears of penitence trembling on the sinner's 
cheek. And man, too, can look from earth to heaven. When 
God opens his eyes, and draws aside the veil, like Stephen, He 
can see right into it. " He being full of the Holy Ghost, 
looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, 
and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, 
Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man stand- 
ing on the right hand of God." Stephen found out the secret 
of the attractiveness of heaven. He saw Christ at the right 
hand of God. The King in his beauty was there, and that 
makes heaven. 

Some one being asked what he expected to do when he got 
to heaven, replied that he would take one good look at Christ 
for about five hundred years, and then he might look round 
and see the apostles, and saints, and martyrs. And it seems to 
me 4 that one glimpse of Him who loved us, and washed us in 
His blood, will repay us for all we can suffer here in this dark 
world. 

A little child, whose mother was dying, was taken away to 
live with some friends because it was thought she did not under- 
stand what death is. 'All the while the child wanted to ga 



HEA VEN. 133 

home and see her mother. At last, when the funeral was over, 
and she was taken home, she ran all over the house, searching 
the sitting-room, the parlour, the library, and the bedrooms. 
She went from one end of the house to the other, and when 
she could not find her mother, she wished to be taken back to 
where they brought her from. Home had lost its attractions 
for the child when her mother was not there. My friends, the 
great attraction in heaven will not be its pearly gates, its golden 
streets, nor its choir of angels, but it will be Christ. Heaven 
would be no heaven if Christ were not there. But we know 
that He is at the right hand of the Father, and those eyes shall 
gaze on Him by-and-by ; and we shall be satisfied when we 
awake with his likeness. 

But the company of heaven is more varied still — our friends 
are there. God the Father is there, Christ the Son is there, 
angels are there, and in Rev. vii. we read of " a great multitude, 
which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and 
people and tongues." We read of the redeemed who stand 
" before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white 
robes, and palms in their hands." Yes, we have friends in 
heaven. 

A bereaved father asked me the other day if I thought the 
little one he had lost had gone to be with Jesus. I could only 
tell him what David said when he lost his son, " I shall go to 
him, but he shall not return to me." It is a very sweet thought 
to me, and it must be to you also who have lost little ones, that 
the King can take better care of them than we can. If we could 
look into the eternal city we should see the Shepherd leading 
them by the green pastures and the still waters. He will care 
for each little lost lamb Himself far better than its own fond 
mother ; and is it not sweeter for them to be for ever with the 
Lord than down in this sad land of suffering and sin ? Our 
friends are not lost, just gone before. They have had " the 
desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better," and 
He has gratified it. Although to live was to live for Christ, 
yet to be with Him, was, even with Paul, "far better." 



134 HEA VEN. 

But there is more in heaven still. Once the disciples had 
been out preaching and met with wonderful success. They had 
great power, had cast out devils, and worked many miracles. 
They came back greatly elated. Like workers in a great revival, 
they say to one another, " Is not this glorious ? " But Christ 
says, " Do not rejoice at that. I will tell you what to rejoice 
about. In this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject to you, 
but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven." What 
a glorious thought is this ? Our names are written in heaven. 
We may be sure of it. If the children of God are not to know 
that their names are written in heaven how are they to rejoice ? 
If there had been any doubt about it, how could the disciples 
have rejoiced when Christ told them to rejoice ? It is our priv- 
ilege, if we are Christians, not only to know it, to be quite sure 
of it, but to rejoice in it. 

The grand question of life is, Is my name written in heaven t 
Is my name in the Book of Life ? Not, Is it in the Church rec- 
ord? That record may not be kept in the same way that the 
record in heaven is kept. And there may be names in the 
Church record which have never been written in heaven. But 
it is God's record we are talking about. God keeps a record, 
a book of the lost and a book of the saved, a book of the living 
and a book of the dead. Which book is your name in ? Can 
you rejoice this moment th&t your name is written in the Book 
of Life ? Weigh the question well. It is very important. For 
" Whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast 
into the lake of fire." "And there shall in no wise enter into 
it anything that defileth it, neither whatsoever worketh an abom- 
ination or maketh a lie ; but they which are written in the 
Lamb's Book of Life." 

Some friends, lately, in traveling, arrived at an English hotel, 
but found that it had been full for days. They were turning 
away to seek accommodation elsewhere, when a lady of the 
party bade the others adieu, and expressed her intention to 
remain. " How can that be," they asked, u when you hear the 
hotel is full ? " " Oh," she replied, " I telegraphed on ahead a 



HEAVEN. 135 

number of days ago, and my room has been secured." My 
friend, send on your name ahead, and the door of heaven can 
never be shut against you. Be sure it is a wise precaution. 
Then everyting will be ready for you. And when the journey 
of life is over, you will mount up as with angel wings, and 
inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. 
Many are spending their time and strength for a home down 
here, with its shallow luxuries and fleeting joys. But what will 
all the mansions of earth do for you, if you have secured no 
title to a mansion in the sky ? 

A soldier, wounded during our last war, lay dying in his cot. 
Suddenly the deathlike stillness of the room was broken by the 
cry, " Here ! Here ! " which burst from the lips of the dying 
man. Friends rushed to the spot and asked what he wanted. 
" Hark," he said, " they are calling the roll of heaven, and I am 
answering to my name." In a few moments once more he 
whispered " Here !" and passed into the presence of the King. 

If we have made sure that our own names are written in 
heaven, the next most important thing is to be sure that our 
children's names are there. The promise is not unto you only 
but unto your children. Mother, is the name of that boy of 
your's written in the Lamb's Book of life ? Is it not better that 
your children's names should be written there, than that you 
should secure for them grea^ possessions on this dark earth ? Oh, 
I pity the son who has never had an interest beyond the grave ; 
but more the mother who has never told him of the rest that 
remaineth for the people of God. May God make fathers and 
mothers more faithful and true to their solemn charge, that 
their children may grow up to be a blessing to the world, and 
that they meet at last, an unbroken circle, in heaven ! 

Whenever I think about this subject, two fathers come before 
me. One lived on the Mississippi river. He was a man of 
great wealth. Yet he would have freely given it all could he 
have brought back his eldest boy from his early grave. One day 
that boy had been borne home unconscious. They did every- 
thing that man could do to restore him, but in vain. " He must 



136 HEAVEN. 

die," said the doctor. " But, doctor," said the agonized father, 
" can you do nothing to bring him to consciousness, even for a 
moment ? " " That may be," said the doctor ; " but he can 
never live." Time passed, and after a terrible suspense the 
father's wish was gratified. " My son," he whispered, " the 
doctor tells me you are dying." " Well," said the boy, " you 
never prayed for me, father ; won't you pray for my lost soul 
now ? " The father wept. It was true he had never prayed. 
He was a stranger to God. And in a little while that soul, 
unprayed for, passed into its dark eternity. Oh, father! if 
your boy was dying, and called on you to pray, could you lift 
your burdened heart to heaven ? Have you learned this sweet- 
est lesson of heaven or earth, to know and hold communion 
with your God ? And before this evil world has marked your 
dearest treasures for its prey, have you learned to lead your 
little ones to a children's Christ ? 

What a contrast is the other father ! He, too, had a lovely 
boy, and one day he came home to find him at the gates of 
death. "A great change has come over our boy," said the 
weeping mother ; " he has only been a little ill before, but it 
seems now as if he were dying fast." The father went into the 
room, and placed his hand on the forehead of the little boy. 
He could see the boy was dying. He could feel the cold damp 
of death. " My son, do you know you are dying ? " " No ; am 
I ?" " Yes ; you are dying." " And shall I die to-day ? " 
*' Yes, my boy, you cannot live till night." " Well, then, I shall 
be with Jesus to-night, won't I, father ? " " Yes, my son, you 
will spend to-night with the Saviour." As he turned away, the 
little fellow saw the tears trickling over his father's cheeks. 
" Don't weep for me, father," he said ; " when I get to heaven 
I will go right to Jesus, and tell that ever since I can remember 
you have tried to lead me to Him." God has given me one 
. little boy, and if God should take him, I would rather have him 
carry such a testimony as that to my Master, than have all the 
wealth of the world rolled at his feet. 

Mothers and fathers, the little ones may begin early ; be in 



HEAVEN. , 137 

earnest with them now. You know not how soon you may be 
taken from them, or they may be taken from you. Therefore 
let this impression be made upon their minds that you care for 
their souls a million times more than for their worldly pros- 
pects. And if you yourself have never thought how little it 
would profit you to gain the whole world and lose your own 
soul, I beseech you not to let another sun go down before you 
are able to say that your name has been in heaven. 



HEAVEN. 

Part II. 



We have seen how God is in heaven, for it is his dwelling- 
place ; how Christ is there, for He is at the right hand of the 
Father ; how the redeemed saints are there ; how our names 
are there ; and now, if we are true Christians, we ought to have 
our treasure there. We are commanded to " Lay up for our- 
selves treasures in heaven." " Lay not up for yourselves treas- 
ures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where 
thieves break through and steal ; but lay up for yourselves treas- 
ures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and 
where thieves do not break through nor steal." 

If our treasure were in heaven we should not have to be urg- 
ing men to live for heaven, or pleading with them to lift their 
hearts heavenward. Their hearts would be there already; 
" where your treasure is there will your heart be also." 

It does not take long to find out where a man's treasure is, 
you have only to watch where his heart is. The man who 
makes politics his god, see how his face lights up the moment 
you talk about it ! Here is a man whose heart is set upon 
business ; put him in the way of making a few thousands even 
at the risk of losing a few more, and you have done him the 
greatest favour in the world. Here is another whose god is 
pleasure ; his eye sparkles when you even mention it. One 
would think from such men that there is nothing worth living 
for but politics, and business, and pleasure. But talk to a child 
of God whose treasures are in heaven ; the world scarce inter- 
ests him. He will tell you how he has here no continuing city, 



HEA VEN. 139 

how he is but a stranger and a pilgrim, how heaven is his home 
And as he talks of Christ, and the promises, and the hope be- 
yond the grave, you see that he enjoys the heavenly calm which 
the world knows not of. ' 

When I was on the Pacific Coast I spent my first Sunday in 
San Francisco. I went to the Sunday-school, but it was a very 
wet stormy day, and so few teachers or scholars made their ap- 
pearance, that the superintendent was in doubt whether he 
should not send them home again. However, as they had 
come through the rain, it was decided to go on with the lesson, 
and I was asked to undertake the task. The subject happened 
to be, " Our Treasures in Heaven." The blackboard was got 
ready, and being a poor writer myself, I handed the chalk to 
one of the teachers, and said to the children, " Now, I want 
you to tell me some earthly treasures ; what do you suppose 
men think most of? " Some one cried, "Money." " Put that 
down," I said. "Anything else?" "Lands." "Put that 
down." Many strange things were said; one little boy said 
" Rum," and perhaps he was nearer the truth than any of them, 
for many a man will sell soul and body, and business and family, 
and home and everything else for drink ; and when the cata- 
logue was finished, I asked them next to give me a list of heav- 
enly treasures. The first answer was " Jesus ; " and as we went 
on from one to another, we found that the treasures of heaven 
were far more numerous and very much more precious than all 
the treasures which the earth could give. The young mSn who 
was writing down the answers was an unconverted teacher. 
As he scanned the lists and compared the earthly with the 
heavenly, he stood transfixed with shame. " What a fool have 
I been ! " he says to himself ; " I have come to this Pacific 
Coast, and spent my substance for such things of earth ! " And 
there at that blackboard he vowed to God that for the rest of 
his life his heart should be set alone upon the things which are 
above. 

Think with me for a moment what earthly treasures are. 
Suppose we set our hearts on money ; misfortune darts across 



t 4 o HEAVEN. 

our path ; there is the short-lived resistance, the brief struggle 
soon over, which the world knows so well, and we are beggars ! 
Try reputation. In an " evil moment we may lose the little we 
have ever gained ; or those who have never had any of their 
own may steal ours away with the tongue of slander. If to our 
children we are looking for our chiefest joys, alas for our hopes ! 
for death may carry them away ; or, worse than death, dis- 
grace may count them with the living dead. Yes, and even 
grant us money, and our fill of it, or reputation, and the best 
the world has, or children, the loveliest and beloved of all ; — 
is it not true that we have but provided for a few brief years, 
while the great eternity has been uncared for or forgotten ? 

" Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth." It looks a lit- 
tle stern, perhaps, but it must be right. After all, all that a 
man is really worth is what he has got in heaven. We bring 
nothing into this world, and it is certain we shall carry nothing 
out. Therefore God says, Lay not. The Christian who does, 
suffers. There is no gain in it. It is done at a terrible expense, 
the heart's desire in exchange for the soul's leanness. Here 
are two ships coming up a river. The first, full sail, cuts 
bravely through the water ; the second creeps along, towed by 
another. She appears to be on the point of sinking, but still 
she floats. Why ? Because she has a cargo of timber, and has 
become waterlogged. Lot was all right while he kept with his 
uncle Abraham, but when he left him, and got down into 
Sodom, he got a good deal of this world's goods, and grew 
waterlogged. So it is with many Christians. They have got 
waterlogged. They have got so much money that they cannot 
get into the harbour themselves, and they require others to help 
them in. The religious life gets sluggish. The spiritual pulse 
begins to beat slow. " Why is it ? " they say, " that we do not 
have more spiritual power, and more joy in the Lord ? " The 
secret is easily found out. People who ask these questions have 
got their treasure here. * 

When men go up in balloons they take with them bags 
of sand for ballast, and when they want to rise higher they 



HEA VEN. 141 

throw out some of the sand. Now there are some Christians 
who, before they rise higher, will have to throw out some bal- 
last. It may be money, or any other worldly consideration, 
but if they wish to rise, they must get rid of it. If you have 
got overloaded, just throw out a little money, and you will 
mount up as on eagle's wings. Any minister will tell you what 
to do with it. I never saw any department of the Lord's work 
that did not want some money. 

A friend of mine called on a wealthy Illinois farmer, to get 
him interested in a soldiers' mission. He took him up on the 
cupola of his house, and said, " Look yonder, over that beauti- 
ful rolling prairie, that is all mine, as far as the eye can reach. 
He took him to another view, and pointing over the rich farms 
of the Mississippi Valley, showed him pasture land for thirty 
miles round, with large herds of cattle, and riorses, and sheep 
feeding. " They are all mine," he said ; " I have made it all 
myself." Then he pointed proudly towards the town, and 
showed him streets, and piles of buildings, and a great hall 
named after himself, and said once more, "They are all mine ; 
I came here a poor man, but my own industry has done it 
all." 

My friend said nothing ; but when he had seen all, raising 
his finger, and pointing solemnly to the sky, "What," he said, 
" have you got up there ? " The rich man's countenance fell. 
"Where?" he asked. "In heaven." "I have got nothing 
there." Alas ! he had lived his threescore years and ten, and 
must soon enter eternity, yet he had no treasure there. " Is it 
not strange," said my friend, " a man of your judgment and 
forethought, making such a wreck of life, living for the moment, 
on borrowed time, to die a beggar, and enter eternity a pau- 
per ! " But a few months after that he died as he had lived, 
and his property went to others. 

Oh ! my friends, if there are any of you living for this world 
alone, remember that death will part you and your treasures 
for ever. Ask yourself, I beseech you, what provision you 
have made for the other life ? Is it on that little boy that your 



142 HEAVEN. 

heart is set, is he your god, the idol of your life ? Or is it 
your money, or a name, or dress, or a position in society ? 
Then are you disobeying the law of Him who will one day be 
your judge. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth." 

There is another thought I would like you to look at. Our 
rest is to be in heaven. In Heb. iv. 9, we read, " There remain- 
eth therefore a rest to the people of God." That is another 
treasure we are to have in heaven. Let us not talk of rest 
down here, we have all eternity to rest in. What we want is to 
be faithful in the few months or years that we are here, and 
then we shall rest as eternal ages roll on. This is the place 
for work. " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, for 
they do rest from their labours, and their works do follow 
them." Our works shall follow us. We shall leave a record 
behind us, if we are only faithful, ere the night comes. We can 
set streams running here in this dark world that shall flow on 
after we have gone to heaven. 

Twenty-five hundred years have passed since Daniel lived, 
but he lives to-day. His light shines out, how brightly, all over 
Christendom ! We love to read his life. How it fires and 
cheers us as we read of him standing up for God in Babylon. 
His works do follow him. 

A good many people have made a sad mistake. They think 
the church is a sort of resting-place. They unite with a church, 
and that is about the last we hear of them. They think that a 
good Christian has nothing more to do than get a good pew in a 
respectable place of worship, and all the work after that is to 
hear two sermons a week. 

But, my friends, let us not think of rest and pleasure down 
here. We shall rest when Christ comes, but not until then. 
The time will come when the wicked shall cease from troubling, 
and the weary be at rest. 

I heard of a Christian who did not succeed in his work so well 
as he used to, and he got Homesick and wished himself dead. 
One night he dreamed that he had died, and was carried by the 
angels to the eternal city. As he went along the crystal pave- 



HEA VEN. 143 

ment of heaven, he met a man he used to know, and they went 
walking down the golden streets together. All at once he 
noticed every one looking in the same direction, and saw One 
coming up who was fairer than the sons of men. It was his 
blessed Redeemer. As the chariot came opposite, He came 
forth, and beckoning the one friend, placed him in His own 
chariot-seat, but himself He led aside, and pointing over the 
battlements of heaven, " Look over yonder," He said, " what 
do you see ? " " It seems as if I see the dark earth I have come 
from." " What else ? " " I see men as if they were blindfolded, 
going over a terrible precipice into a bottomless pit." " Well," 
said He, " will you remain up here, and enjoy those mansions 
that I have prepared, or go back to yon dark earth, and warn 
these men, and tell them about Me and my Kingdom, and the 
rest that remaineth for the people of God ? M That man never 
wished himself dead again. He yearned to live as long as ever 
he could, to tell men of heaven and of Christ. And that is what 
God wants us to do. We shall rest by-and-by ; we shall have 
all eternity to rest in. But the Church is the place for work, 
and as soon as our work is done there will be the voice calling 
us, " Come up hither." 

And then — for there is something else in heaven — we shall 
get our crown. In second Timothy fourth and eighth, " Hence- 
forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which 
the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give me at that day." There 
is a crown laid up for every one of His children. God has 
promised it. " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee 
a crown of life." What did Paul run for? Salvation? Ten 
thousand times no ; he got that at the cross. That was settled 
long ago, Paul ran for a crown. There will be a great many 
who will get into heaven, but they will have no crown — crown- 
less Christians. I never touch that life of Paul, and I never 
hear his name mentioned, but it makes me feel ashamed of my- 
self. If I may be allowed the expression, Satan got hold of his 
match when he got hold of Paul. He never got him off the 
right track. He kept his eye right on Christ, and now he wears 



144 HEA VEN. 

his crown. Paul! what are you so ambitious for — to make a 
name ? Why are you so desperately in earnest ? " I am for 
my crown," says Paul. Do you hear what they say about you, 
"A mere babbler attempting to turn the world upside down ? M 
They have made up their minds to kill you. The Jews say all 
manner of things against you. " I know it," says Paul, " but 
none of these things move me." 

Take your stand by his side again. He has received thirty- 
nine stripes ; four times has he been beaten, and now he is to 
be beaten again. " Now, if you get out of this difficulty, what 
will you do, Paul ? " " Do," says Paul, " I do but one thing — 
press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling." What 
did he care for stripes ? " You don't think," he says, " that 
these light afflictions are going to stop me? " Why, if we re- 
ceived one stripe on our backs, what a whining ! I do not 
know how many volumes of books would be written about it. 
We would be called martyrs. Yet Paul calls them " these light 
afflictions." 

Take your stand there again. This time they have stoned 
him. He is all bruised and bleeding. But the great warrior 
rises up and buckles on his armour again. What is he going to 
do ? " You have got out of this, Paul, what are you going to do 
next? " " Do ! " he cries once more; "I do but one thing — 
press towards the mark for the prize. I do not want to lose 
my crown." Therefore he never turns to the right hand or to 
the left. He fixes his eye right on the crown. " Henceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown which cannot fade." 

Look at him again. He goes to* Macedonia, and the first 
thing he gets in Philippi is the jail. If that happened to any 
Christian in the nineteenth century what an outcry there would 
be ! What lamentation there would be inside the prison ! 
What scheming to get out, what claims for damages ! But that 
is not the way this old warrior looks at it. " Silas ! " he says 
at midnight ; "it is time to have our evening worship." And 
there, in that prison cell, with bleeding backs and feet fast in the 
stocks, they sing their psalm of praise. It would be about the 



HEAVEN. 145 

last place we should think of singing praises in, and if we did 
sing it would be some melancholy hymn ! But not so Paul. 
" If God wants me to go to heaven by way of the Philippian 
prison," he says, " it is all the same to me ; rejoice and be 
exceeding glad, Silas. I thank God that I am accounted worthy 
to suffer for Jesus' sake." And as they sang their praises to 
God, the other prisoners heard them ; but, what was far more 
important, the Lord heard them, and the old prison shook, 
their chains fell off, and they were free men ! Talk about Alex- 
ander the Great making the world tremble with his armies. 
Here is a little tent-maker who makes the world tremble with- 
out any army ! 

And then look at the end of his glorious life. He was in 
Rome and about to be executed. He takes up his pen and 
writes to Timothy, " The time of my departure is at hand, I 
have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith." Thank God 
he kept the faith ! He did not break away and teach false 
doctrine. He believed in the good old gospel that Christ died, 
and that men must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ if they 
would be saved. " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown," 
I should like to have been in Rome when Paul was there, there 
was something there worth seeing then. I should like to have 
seen him walking down* those streets. Rome never saw such a 
conqueror as that man. "Paul! you are going to execution; 
are you not sorry you gave your life to the Lord Jesus ? You 
have had to suffer so much, stoned, persecuted, beaten with 
many stripes, in many dangers in the wilderness, in perils by 
sea and land — are you not sorry? Would you give your life 
to £hrist if you had it to live over again ? " " Yes," he replies, 
" if I had ten thousand lives I would willingly give them all for 
His dear sake." He has nothing to regret, nothing to be sorry 
for. " Sorry ! " he cries ; " I thank God a thousand times a 
day that I ever gave myseli to Him ! " 

Look at him as he marches along to execution like a con- 
queror. If you had taken your stand by his side you might 
have heard him whisper, " I shall be absent from the body and 

10 



146 HEA VEN. 

present with the Lord to-night." He has no worldly wealth to 
trouble him — perhaps a few tools that he used in tent-mak- 
ing — but in heaven he has treasures untold, and he makes 
ready to go for his crown. You can see a smile on his face as 
he lays his head on the guillotine, and his soul leaps into the 
chariot of fire that stands by its side. I can imagine them 
watching for him from the battlements of heaven, and there is 
a cry " Hallelujah ! " as he sweeps away up to the throne. 
And I can hear the shout of the Master as he enters the pearly 
gates, " Well done, Paul ; you have fought a good fight, you 
have kept the faith, you have finished the work that was given 
you to do ; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord ! " And the 
Master rises and plants the crown upon his brow, but he takes 
it and casts it at the feet of his Lord. 

Paul got his reward at last. Down here it was tribulation, 
but I have an idea that he thanks God more to-day for his 
afflictions than for his prosperity. John Bunyan thanked God 
more for Bedford Jail than for anything that ever happened to 
him. And Paul, in prison, takes out his pen and writes these 
epistles which have come down as a blessing through the ages. 
The streams of grace that Paul set running are running still. 
Eighteen hundred years have passed since He wrote these 
epistles to the churches, but their fruits are still going up from 
every clime and nation'. And so if things go against us, let us 
thank God. Our reward is yonder. I do not believe a man 
will be much used of God until he is above the thought of 
receiving reward from men. " Rejoice and be exceeding glad, 
for great is your reward in heaven'' If God calls it " great," it 
must be something worth having, therefore let us not spoil it 
by seeking the world's honours. 

Not long ago there lived an old bed-ridden saint, and a 
Christian lady who visited her found her always very cheerful. 
This visitor had a lady friend of wealth who constantly looked 
on the dark side of things, and was always cast down although 
she was a professed Christian. She thought it would do this 
lady good to see the bed-ridden saint, so she took her down to 



' HEA VEN. 147 

the house. She lived up in the garret, five stories up, and when 
they had got to the first story the lady drew up her dress and 
said, " How dark and filthy it is ! " " It is better higher up," 
said her friend. They got to the next story, and it was no 
better ; the lady complained again, but her friend replied, " It's 
better higher up." At the third floor it seemed still worse, 
and the lady kept complaining, but her friend kept saying, " It's 
better higher up." At last they got to the fifth story, and when 
they went into the sick-room, there was a nice carpet on the 
floor, there were flowering plants in the window, and little birds 
singing. And there they found this bed-ridden saint — one of 
those saints whom God is polishing for His own temple — just 
beaming with joy. The lady said to her " It must be very hard 
for you to lie here." She smiled and said, " It's better higher 
up" Yes ! And if things go against us, my friends, let us re- 
member that " it's better higher up." 

I was going to New Orleans from Chicago a few years ago, 
and there were two ladies in the carriage with me. They got 
well acquainted with one another by the time they reached 
Cairo, where one lived, the other was going on to New Orleans. 
The one who had to get out at Cairo, said to the other, " I wish 
you would stay here with me for a few days, I like your com- 
pany so much." " I should like to stay," replied the other, 
u but my things are all packed up and have gone on before ; I 
have no clothes but those I am wearing. They are good enough 
to travel in y but I would not like to be seen in company with 
them." Now that is the way with the Christian. He is away 
from home here, his treasure has gone on before, and anything 
is good enough to travel in. If things don't go on smoothly down 
here we need not be too particular, they're good enough to travel 
in. If our treasures are in heaven our hearts will be there, 
and we shall be living as pilgrims and strangers on the earth 

One thought more. What occasions joy in heaven ? The 
events which stir this world I believe are hardly noticed in 
heaven. If this government should be destroyed, what a com- 
motion it would create all over the universe, but it would 



i 4 8 HEAVEN. 

hardly cause a ripple in that country. If there was one little 

boy down here converted to-day, it would be noticed in heaven. 

Jesus Christ said, " There is joy in heaven over one sinner that 

repenteth." 

My little boy, don't you want to become a lamb, for the Shep- 
herd to watch over and care for ? My little girl, don't you want 
to become a daughter of heaven, a follower of Christ ? 

It may be that at this moment every battlement of heaven is 
alive with the redeemed. There is a sainted mother watching 
for her daughter Daughter ! can you not see her ? She is 
beckoning you now to the better land. Have you no response 
to that long-hushed voice which has prayed for you so often ? 
And for you, young man, are there no voices there which 
prayed for you ? and are there none whom you promised Once to 
meet again, if not on earth, in heaven ? And which of you, 
fathers and mothers, but can hear in the angels' chorus the 
music of the little ones you loved, and who have winged their 
way to be in glory for ever with the Lord ? Oh ! shall we not 
all just turn our backs upon the world, and fall on our knees, 
and ask God for Christ's sake to write down our name in the 
Lamb's Book of Life, so that we and those we love may live 
for ever with the Lord ! 



THE END. 



